3 villagers hurt as cops, shabu dealers clash in Maguindanao del Sur

May 27, 2026 | 8:20pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Three villagers, two of them minors, were wounded in the crossfire between policemen and six shabu dealers in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur on Tuesday, May 26.

Local officials said on Wednesday that the target of the anti-narcotics operation, Gabriel Andig Dagandal, and his five accomplices, three of them identified with their first names Salik, Ali and Musib, opened fire first at the policemen about to arrest them during an entrapment operation in Barangay Bakat in Radjah Buayan, hurting three innocent villagers across the street.  

Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and officials of the Radjah Buayan Municipal Police Station, separately confirmed on Wednesday that the incident left three male residents of Barangay Bakat wounded, brought immediately by emergency responders to a hospital for treatment.

Local executives and traditional Moro datus had told reporters that Dagandal, long known for his shabu and marijuana peddling activities, and his companions pulled out guns when they sensed that they were about to sell shabu to non-uniformed policemen from units of PRO-BAR and operatives from the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office, provoking a gunfight that triggered panic among villagers in Barangay Bakat.

The entrapment operation that turned haywire was premised on the confession of the now detained Aga Dala Badtican, arrested jointly last Sunday by policemen and barangay officials in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, about his connections with Dagandal and his cohorts, whom he admitted were the main suppliers of the shabu he distributed in towns in the province and in isolated barangays in nearby Cotabato City.

Badtican was about to turn over P170,000 worth of shabu to contacts, Amerudin Sandatu and Mobin Manduh, in Barangay Dalumangcob in Sultan Kudarat, which was foiled by personnel of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station, led by their chief, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, and barangay officials after villagers reported to them their suspicious presence in the area. Badtican first ran away, but was eventually cornered and arrested by policemen after a brief chase.

Salanguit and PRO-BAR’s director, Police Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia, separately told reporters that their units are now searching for Dagandal and his companions with the help of local executives in Radjah Buayan. 

Abecia has ordered his subordinate-officers in the Maguindanao del Sur provincial police force to file criminal cases against Dagandal and his companions in absentia.