Special probe group formed for ambush of BARMM cops

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March 30, 2026 | 6:28pm

COTABATO CITY — Police in the Bangsamoro region have organized a special group to probe the fatal ambush of five patrolmen in an attack on Saturday night, March 28, in Barangay Mother Poblacion, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.

The fatalities, Patrolmen Kenneth Perocho, Al-Fatah Marohom, Amil Bangsa, Arsenal Sivih, and Sayed Ridwan, all from the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office (MSPPO), were in a pickup truck returning to Camp Akilan in Shariff Aguak from a peacekeeping mission when they were attacked by gunmen armed with combat rifles positioned along the route.

The incident left three others, Police Lt. Alfred Gregory, Staff Sgt. Adam Kamarudin Kansi, and Master Sgt. Abubakar Lauban, wounded.

Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Monday that Col. Salman Sapal, who oversees the MSPPO, and his immediate superior, Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of PRO-BAR, organized on Sunday a special investigation task group (SITG) to probe the attack that resulted in the deaths of the five policemen.

Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, chairperson of the region’s multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council, on Monday, March 30, urged the attackers over various radio stations to surrender and face the consequences of the crime they committed.

“We will run after you. We in the Bangsamoro government will flex our authority in helping units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region locate all of you. The local government units in Maguindanao del Sur are helping us achieve that goal so better surrender now while there is time yet,” Macacua, figurehead of the 80-seat BARMM parliament, said.

Local executives said they have been receiving reports from their constituents that the group behind the ambush consists of remnants of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya terror group, attempting to create the impression that they are still capable of staging attacks to intimidate owners of bus companies and business establishments in Central Mindanao into resuming the payment of “protection money” on a periodic basis.

Members of the BARMM parliament, including lawyers Naguib Sinarimbo and Ishak Mastura, and physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding Jr., separately condemned on Monday the ambush of policemen in Shariff Aguak, one of the 24 towns in Maguindanao del Sur.

“Such atrocity has no place in our communities. We want the rule of law to reign in our communities. We detest and reject the wanton use of firearms to create trouble anywhere in all of the five provinces and three cities in our region,” Sinarimbo said. He previously served as BARMM’s local government minister before being appointed last year as a member of the regional parliament by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Sinolinding, who also serves as regional health minister in a concurrent capacity, said he and his fellow regional lawmakers need to focus on possible legislation to support PRO-BAR and the military’s peacekeeping operations in the autonomous region.

 “Functions and powers of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces are not devolved to the Bangsamoro government but we, in the parliament, can craft laws for regional application that can help boost police and military law-enforcement operations in the autonomous region,” Sinolinding said.

BARMM Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema, who is also chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, on Monday ordered all MNLF members in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns to help the SITG identify the culprits behind Saturday’s ambush.

Sema said the MNLF’s Sept. 2, 1996 peace pact with the national government compels them to assist the police and military in maintaining law and order in areas where they have state-recognized enclaves.

Salanguit said the SITG will operate under the supervision of Sapal, director of the MSPPO, with the assistance of his subordinates, including Capt. Noman Marcos, Lt. Col. Arnold Acosta, Lt. Col. Arturo Rivera, and Lt. Col. Lendsy Sinsuat.

 “This early we already have pledges of support from local government officials in Shariff Aguak and in towns around to help the SITG achieve its goals," De Guzman said.