Supt. Maria Christina Nobleza, a ranking police officer accused of attempting to rescue Abu Sayyaf members, is married to an alleged bombmaker of the extremist group, the head of the Central Visayas police revealed Wednesday.
“Talagang ikinasal sila sa parang isang Muslim rite kasi nag-Balik Islam ito si Supt. Nobleza,” Region 7 police director, Chief Supt. Noli Taliño said in a phone interview with radio DZMM.
(They were married in an apparent Muslim rite because Supt. Nobleza recently became a convert.)
Earlier reports said Nobleza returned to Islam around the same time that she was assigned in February as the deputy regional chief of the Davao police Crime Laboratory.
Nobleza and Dongon were arrested Saturday after igoring a checkpoint in Clarin town in Bohol, where Abu Sayyaf fighters and security forces were in the thick of fighting.
The policewoman was previously married to a police attaché officer in Pakistan, but their union was annulled in 2010, Taliño said.
The investigation against Nobleza, Taliño added, will cover her former husband.
“Iyun ang magiging takbo ng investigation para malaman natin kung ano ang relatonship nila. Siyempre sinasabi nila na wala na sila at kinakasama na niya si Dongon,” said Taliño. (That will be part of the probe so we can find out the real status of their relationship. Of course, they say they no longer have ties and Nobleza is now living with Dongon.)
Nobleza has insisted that she only went to Clarin on an assignment, but has so far failed to present official memos to prove her claim, Taliño said.
The policewoman faces charges for illegal possession of firearms, obstruction of justice, and resisting a person in authority. Dongon meanwhile was charged with resisting a person in authority.
The couple is currently detained at the national police headquarters in Quezon City.
This story first appeared on ABS-CBN News and is re-published with permission
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