Bounty hunters have been sprouting like mushrooms in Maguindanao with the hope of getting a share of the P28 million recently released by the government for the arrest of the 112 suspects in the infamous massacre of 57 people last year who remain at large.

In fact, it was a bounty hunter who tipped off the police regarding Edris Kasan who was arrested in a hospital in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao early Sunday, a ranking police official who requested for anonymity told Manila Bulletin.

“We have been receiving reports of the presence of a number of bounty hunters in Maguindanao since the news of the reward broke out. Maybe it’s because of the money involved,” the source said.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) approved the recommendation of the PNP to offer P250,000 for each of the remaining Maguindanao massacre suspects who are still unaccounted for.

“Kasan, for instance, has been hiding and even used a fictitious name when he was hospitalized but it was a bounty hunter who called up the police and informed them about his whereabouts. It led to his arrest,” the source added.

Kasan is carrying a reward of P250,000 for his alleged involvement in the Maguindanao massacre on November 23 last year in Ampatuan town. He was among the 197 people charged in connection with the grisly killings.

A member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) loyal to the Ampatuans which allegedly masterminded the massacre, Kasan was hospitalized on Friday after he was ambushed by five armed men who were initially reported to be also interested on the reward offered for his capture.

Senior Supt. Benito Estipona, commander of Task Force Maguindanao in charge of hunting down the massacre suspects, said they are still investigating if those who waylaid Kasan are bounty hunters.

“That is still subject of the investigation, the information that we received is that it was Ampatuan loyalists who ambushed Kasan. We still don’t know why,” said Estipona.

But Estipona admitted that some local residents have been helping the police in tracking down the massacre suspects because of the reward.

“They are helping because the reward will serve as an incentive for them but we still have to confirm reports that some of them have already formed groups to hunt the massacre suspects on their own,” said Estipona.

“We in the Philippine National Police (PNP) do not encourage bounty-hunting activities because that is dangerous, that is against the law,” said Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., PNP spokesman, for his part. “Our message to them is that they provide the information to us, and we do the rest,” he stressed.

Cruz assured that the reward will still be given to the informant, without necessarily risking their lives, as long as the tip-off resulted in the arrest.

The PNP leadership earlier released the pictures and names of the remaining massacre suspects, most of them were taken to Maguindanao and nearby areas in order to encourage local residents to help the police.

Most of them are members of the CVO that participated in blocking the convoy of the relatives of now Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu on November 23. Mangudadatu’s wife and sisters were eventually killed along with some 30 journalists who accompanied them in the filing of certificate of candidacy.

Nearly 50 policemen, including the then provincial police director of Maguindanao and his deputy, are now detained in Bicutan, Taguig along with the alleged masterminds headed by the Ampatuan clan patriarch Andal Sr. and his son Andal, Jr. who allegedly led the killings.