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John Unson - Philstar.com
March 30, 2026 | 6:36pm
Police forensic experts sift through the scene of the fatal ambush of a police corporal and a companion in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur.
Photo courtesy of Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY — Gunmen killed a police corporal and his male civilian companion in an ambush in Barangay Paglamatan, Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur, before dawn on Saturday, March 28.
Officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office told reporters on Monday, March 30, that Cpl. Walid Buleg Sangcopan and his companion, whose full name was withheld at the request of relatives, were riding a gray Toyota Innova bearing license plates ZTV 289 when they were attacked by gunmen along a secluded stretch of highway in Barangay Paglamatan, killing them instantly.
Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Monday that the pistol-wielding men who attacked Sangcopan and his companion, and immediately fled, are now the subject of an extensive manhunt by personnel from various PRO-BAR units in Lanao del Sur.
Witnesses told police investigators and barangay officials who responded to the incident that Sangcopan alighted from the vehicle he was driving and returned fire but was eventually felled by pistol shots from the assailants.
His companion, who was hit by bullets in different parts of his body, died in the front passenger seat of the Toyota Innova they were riding in.
Sangcopan, a member of a PRO-BAR unit in Lanao del Sur, belonged to a large Maranao clan in Bayang town in the province. His slain companion was from Bukidnon province, according to investigators from the Saguiaran Municipal Police Station.
PRO-BAR director Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman said investigators and intelligence operatives from units in Lanao del Sur have enlisted the help of local executives in Saguiaran and traditional Maranao leaders in the municipality to help bring the case to a swift resolution.
