Cops’ slays tagged drug gangs’ revenge

COTABATO CITY—Another policeman was shot dead in Maguindanao, the second in three days, in what officials said could be part of retaliatory attacks by organized crime groups operating in the province.

The victim, PO2 Faustino Berdadero Jr., who works as a photographer assigned to Camp SK Pendatun, regional police office of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), was walking home at 7:15 p.m. in the village of Sarmiento, Parang town, when unidentified gunmen shot him.

He was brought to Cotabato Regional and Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival.

Senior Insp. Marcille Manzano, ARMM police spokesperson, said Berdadero suffered a gunshot wound in the head.

Manzano said she last saw Berdadero at work during President Duterte’s visit to Camp SK Pendatun.

The President was at the ARMM regional office for a security briefing.

“We believe this is in retaliation for the antidrug operation in Maguindanao,” Manzano said, adding that Berdadero was not involved in tactical operations but on police documentation of criminal activities.

Syndicates’ rampage

Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, Maguindanao provincial police, also said drug syndicates were the likely perpetrators “due to the intensified antidrug, anticrime operations of ARMM
police.”

“They (syndicates) suffered much, we expect them to get back at us,” Tello said.

“Unfortunately they got back at soft targets,” he added.

Minutes after the murder of Berdadero, unidentified armed men harassed policemen manning a detachment along the highway in the village of 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 ambushed along the highway, leaving PO1 Reynaldo Cayanga injured.

Cayanga and other policemen were ambushed around 9 p.m. as their vehicle approached Barangay Macabiso, triggering a brief gunfight.

Tello could not say if the attackers suffered fatalities. The injured Cayanga is now confined in a hospital.

Soldiers’ help

An undetermined number of gunmen was also sighted near police detachments in adjoining towns of Parang, Sultan Mastura and Sultan Kudarat on Saturday night.

To thwart attempts to overrun police stations, soldiers were deployed along portions of the Cotabato-Parang Highway.

On Wednesday, unidentified men shot dead PO2 Jonard Clarino, assigned to the Regional Public Safety Battalion and resident of Midsayap, North Cotabato.

He was driving his motorcycle when suspects on separate motorbikes shot him on the road in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ