BARMM police gun down 2 ‘hired killers’ in Maguindanao clash

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March 23, 2026 | 6:13pm

COTABATO CITY — Policemen shot dead two individuals long wanted for murder and other crimes during an operation in Barangay Rebuken in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte before dawn on Monday, March 23, after an attempted peaceful arrest went awry.

The two wanted persons, Peter Osorio and Edwin Mallorca, died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in a brief shootout with personnel of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station, led by their chief, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters at noon Monday that Madin, his subordinates, and operatives from different PRO-BAR units were serving the duo with warrants for their arrest when the suspects reportedly drew pistols and grenades, triggering a gunfight that left both of them dead.

Osorio, a resident of Antipas town in Cotabato, had been hiding in Barangay Rebuken after the Regional Trial Court Branch 17 in Kidapawan City ordered his arrest on March 11, 2024, for multiple murder and other heinous crimes.

Local officials and traditional Moro leaders said Mallorca, a known trafficker of shabu and marijuana, had been providing Osorio sanctuary in his hideout in Barangay Rebuken.

Local executives and barangay officials also said Mallorca and Osorio were both tagged in the murder, allegedly in exchange for money, of more than 10 residents in the adjoining towns of Sultan Kudarat and Sultan Mastura in Maguindanao del Norte, as well as in nearby Cotabato City, in a series of gun attacks that began in late 2024.