5 killed in Central Mindanao police law-enforcement operation

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December 17, 2025 | 7:02pm

COTABATO CITY — Five individuals were killed by police after allegedly provoking a gunfight while officers attempted to serve warrants of arrest and search for firearms and narcotics at their hideout in Sitio Dima, Barangay Lower Paatan, Kabacan, Cotabato, on Tuesday, December 16.

Local officials and traditional Moro community leaders in Barangay Lower Paatan told reporters on Wednesday that the target of the law-enforcement operation, Ibrahim Macalnas, also known as "Commander Bigkog," who is wanted for murder and other high-profile crimes, along with his relative Datukan Macalnas, Ismael Luncayao, and two still-unidentified companions, all died instantly from gunshot wounds sustained during the encounter.

Barangay officials and traditional Moro leaders in Lower Paatan said that combined police units from the Police Regional Office 12 went to serve Ibrahim Macalnas arrest warrants for multiple murder cases pending in Central Mindanao courts and to search his hideout in Sitio Dima. However, he and his companions opened fire, triggering a gunfight that left all five of them dead.

Lt. Col. April Lou Palma, Kabacan municipal police chief, and officials from the Cotabato Provincial Police Office in Kidapawan City said the officers involved in the operation intended to arrest Ibrahim Macalnas peacefully. The operation went awry, however, when he and his four accomplices resisted.

Barangay officials reported that two of Ibrahim’s still-unidentified followers opened fire on the police as they attempted to serve the arrest warrants.

Barangay and municipal authorities confirmed that police recovered a combat rifle, two .45-caliber pistols, and a fragmentation grenade next to the bodies of the five men killed in the incident.

The police team involved in the operation seized P24,000 worth of shabu and a 9-millimeter pistol from two other individuals at the scene, Monera Macalnas and Teggy Macalnas. Both are now in detention, awaiting prosecution.

Lt. Col. April Lou Palma said three of Ibrahim's accomplices, known traffickers of shabu and marijuana, escaped during the firefight and are now the subject of a police manhunt.

Police Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, director of PRO-12, said the Kabacan police force and local officials will cooperate in filing criminal cases against Ibrahim’s followers who evaded arrest after exchanging gunfire with police during the raid.