Police have arrested two alleged gunmen of a supposed principal witness to the Maguindanao massacre, even as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has approved a total of P28 million reward for the arrest of 112 accused in the infamous brutal killings last year.

Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Jr., newly designated spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said Abdullah Pasawilan and Morsed Simpal were arrested by lawmen raided in respective homes on Friday.

Both Pasawilan and Simpal were tagged as the most likely assassins of Sweb Dalanda Bedo who used the alias Jesse in television interviews regarding his alleged participation in the killings of 57 people, including more than 30 members of media, in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on November 23 last year.

Bedo was gunned down on June 14 in Parang town, with his siblings telling the police that their slain brother told them a few days before his death that he would be liquidated by four other goons of a local politician in Maguindanao after he told them that he would surrender and tell everything he knew about the massacre to the police.

“Investigators have submitted for ballistics and forensic examination the two caliber 45 pistols found in the suspects’ possession upon their arrest,” said Cruz, adding that the examinations would determine if the weapons were the ones used in the killing of Bedo.

“CIDG Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives are tracking down two more suspects in Bedo’s murder,” said Cruz.

As this developed, the DILG has already approved the recommendation of the PNP placing P250,000 bounty for each of the 112 other suspects in the Maguindanao massacre in order to expedite their arrest.

“It was embodied in DILG Memorandum Circulars 2010-53 and 55 issued on June 29, 2010 wherein the DILG approved a monetary reward of P250,000 for each of the 112 suspects still a-large who have been indicted for alleged involvement in the mass murder,” said Cruz.

The 112 suspects include 96 members of Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVO) and 16 PNP members identified in investigation as having participated in the crime.