The Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) is preparing security measures intended for the return of detained Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza and husband Reniorlo Dongon, an alleged Abu Sayyaf bomber, to Bohol.

According to Sr. Insp. Jojit Mananquil, chief of the BPPO’s Provincial Intelligence Branch, the suspects will be attending their arraignment in the province where they were arrested in April.

They will be transported from the Philippine National Police’s headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City.

However, Mananquil did not disclose the arrival date of the high-risk detainees for security reasons.

Other details on the couple’s stay in Bohol were also withheld, but Mananquil assured that security in key areas will be “doubled” as their presence in the province will be “crucial.”

The police official noted that they are not discounting the possibility of a rescue attempt for the couple.

Dongon and Nobleza were arrested at a security checkpoint in Brgy. Bacani, Clarin on April 22 while a gun battle between Abu Sayyaf bandits and government troops was ongoing in the said village.

Both suspects were suspected of attempting to rescue Abu Sayyaf survivors of the initial clash in Inabanga on April 11.

Two days after their arrest, police allegedly found bomb parts inside their rented apartment in Panglao.

The over month-long stay of Abu Sayyaf fighters in Bohol ended on May 15 after the last two remnants of the 11-member band of militants which entered the province were gunned down by government security forces. (Allen Doydora)