COTABATO CITY – Another policeman was shot dead in Maguindanao, the second in three days, in what officials believed was part of retaliatory attacks from organized crime groups operating in the province.
The victim, Police Officer 2 Faustino Berdadero Jr., a police photographer assigned in Camp SK Pendatun, regional office of Police Regional Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM), was walking home at 7:15 p.m. in Barangay Sarmiento, Parang, when shot by unidentified gunmen.
He was brought to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival.
Senior Inspector Marcille Manzano, PRO-ARMM spokesperson, said Berdadero sustained a gunshot wound in the head.
Manzano said she last saw Berdadero performing his duties during President Duterte’s visit to Camp SK Pendatun.
The President was in PRO-ARMM regional office for security briefing and assured police of full government support for their families if they perished performing their duties.
Minutes after the murder of Berdadero, unidentified armed men harassed police manning a detachment along the highway in Barangay Tapayan, Sultan Mastura town, also in Maguindnao.
Barangay Tapayan is about five kilometers from Barangay Sarmiento.
Another police unit, responding to the harassment in Barangay Tapayan, was also fired at along the highway, leaving one officer injured.
An undetermined number of gunmen was also sighted near police detachments in adjoining towns of Parang, Sultan Mastura and Sultan Kudarat Saturday night.
To thwart attempt to over-run police stations, soldiers were deployed along portions of the Cotabato-Parang highway. CBB