MANILA, Philippines—A suspect in the killing of Jolo’s former police chief was a relative of one of the Army intelligence agents shot and killed in the Sulu capital in 2020 allegedly by nine Jolo policemen, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas on Monday (Feb. 1).
“Most likely that’s one of the angles that they took vengeance,” Sinas told reporters on the sidelines of the PNP anniversary in Camp Crame. He did not say who among the suspects was related to one of the slain Army officers.
Sinas said the PNP had already filed complaints against seven suspects in the killing of Lt. Col. Walter Annayo, former Jolo police chief, in Maguindanao in 2020.
Annayo was removed as Jolo police chief following the killing of the Army intelligence agents allegedly by nine policemen in the town, who had been eventually dismissed but had been released.
Sinas said the hunt continued for the dismissed policemen who stand accused of murder for the killing of the Army intelligence operatives.
The Army officers, who were on the trail of suspected terrorists, were shot dead by policemen at a checkpoint in Jolo in June 2020 in what police had initially described as a “misencounter” but which the military said was murder.