Car of gunmen involved in deadly Kidapawan City ambush found

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January 6, 2026 | 6:57pm

COTABATO CITY — Local executives and personnel from various police units recovered on Monday, January 5, the getaway black Nissan Almera used by the gunmen who killed two residents of Kidapawan City, both allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking, during a daring ambush the day before.

Romel Pason Canson and Crystylmae Taniongon Nuñez, who had been under police surveillance for a long time due to their illegal activities, were traveling together in a silver Mitsubishi Mirage when gunmen attacked them on Sunday afternoon in Barangay Lanao, Kidapawan City, Cotabato province, killing them both instantly.

The attackers, armed with assault rifles, escaped using a black Nissan Almera, which residents found on Monday in Barangay Kabasalan in the newly created Ligawasan town of the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province, about 60 kilometers from Kidapawan City.

Barangay chairman Gulam Guiambalanan and investigators from the Ligawasan municipal police told reporters that it was villagers who noticed the car abandoned on a muddy stretch of a farm-to-market road in their barangay.

Moro datus and local executives in Ligawasan, along with officials from units of the Police Regional Office–12 (PRO-12) in Cotabato province, said the car belonged to a businessman operating a rent-a-car business.

The unit had been rented by three men before Christmas Day, according to PRO-12 officials and intelligence agents from the Cotabato Provincial Police Office in Kidapawan City.

Local executives believe that the murder of Canson and Nuñez, both residents of Kidapawan City, may be linked to their involvement in narcotics trafficking in the city and in nearby towns across Cotabato, Maguindanao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat provinces in Central Mindanao.

Canson died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds sustained during the attack, while Nuñez was declared dead on arrival at a hospital where emergency responders brought her for treatment.

PRO-12 officials and local executives separately told reporters that Nuñez was arrested in a police anti-narcotics operation in Matalam town, Cotabato, in 2021.

Plainclothes policemen had seized shabu from her during an entrapment operation conducted with the help of tipsters who were aware of her drug trafficking activities.

Canson had also been dismissed years earlier from his role as a handler of a gun and bomb detection dog in a local government unit due to possession of narcotics.