CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines – Three Lanao del Sur police officers were awarded medals on Sunday, Jan. 29, for being wounded in a gunfight while serving a warrant of arrest to Marantao town’s second most wanted person just a day before.
Getting the Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting (Wounder Personnel Medal) were Maj. Bobby Egera, police chief of the Marantao Municipal Police Station, and his subordinates Cpl. Mujahid Taurac and Cpl. Al Sadat Jahari.
The medal was conferred by Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, chief of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Police Regional Office. Guyguyon also gave them financial assistance.
The three officers were about to serve an arrest warrant on Saturday in Barangay Nataron to Abbas Dimnang Rampa, alias Esmayatin “Datu” Soma, an alleged member of the Dawlah Islamiyah.
As they were approaching Rampa’s house, the suspect and his companions fired at them and a gunfight followed.
Rampa was critically wounded. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The wounded officers were taken to the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City, where their chief, Guyguyon, visited them the following day to give them their medals.
Meanwhile, police seized from the suspect’s house an M16 rifle, several rounds of ammunition, assorted drug paraphernalia, a hand grenade, and 18 pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets believed to be containing crystal meth, or shabu.
A follow-up operation arrest of Soma’s companions — Ansaruna Mulingan Magi and Johari Taban Barani — both of whom were detained at the Marantao Municipal Police Station.
According to the police, Rampa was is facing charges of murder and a violation of the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition.
His arrest warrant was issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 8 in Marawi City.