Ex-cop killed in ambush in South Cotabato

Koronadal City, South Cotabato (INQUIRER FILES)

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines — A retired police officer working as chief of village watchmen in Tupi town, South Cotabato province, was killed in an ambush on Friday afternoon, local authorities reported.

Lt. Richard Ho, Tupi’s deputy police chief, identified the victim as 79-year-old retired Senior Police Officer 3 Teodorico Bastan of Barangay Datal Bob, Tboli town, South Cotabato.

According to police, Bastan was traveling on a motorcycle with his wife in Barangay Simbo, Tupi, when two men on another motorcycle, approaching from the opposite direction, fired at them.

The unidentified assailants immediately fled.

“The victims were on their way home to the adjacent village of Datal Bob in Tboli when the attack took place,” Ho said in a radio interview.

Bastan was the head of the tanods (peacekeepers) of Barangay Simbo.

He sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the head and body, killing him on the spot.

His wife, though traumatized, escaped physical harm.

Investigators recovered three empty shells from a .45-caliber pistol at the scene.

Ho stated that the motive could be connected to Bastan’s role as chief of the village tanods.

Police are investigating the incident.