SURRENDER. The police mug shot of Police Officer 1 Ysmael Baraguir of the Maguindanao provincial police office following his surrender to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Tuesday (Jan. 21, 2020). The suspect, implicated to the gruesome 2009 Maguindanao massacre incident, decided to surrender after more than 10 years in hiding due to the persuasion of relatives. (Photo courtesy of CIDG-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY -- A police officer linked to the infamous 2009 Maguindanao massacre incident voluntarily surrendered Tuesday to police authorities in Maguindanao after more than 10 years of hiding.
Police Officer 1 Ysmael Baraguir of the Maguindanao provincial police office was fetched on Tuesday night from his village in Pagalungan town by agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-BARMM).
Col. James Gulmatico, CIDG-BARMM chief, said the CIDG took Baraguir into custody based on an arrest warrant issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes for 56 counts of murder.
“Baraguir also earlier sent surrender feelers to authorities about his decision to yield peacefully,” Gulmatico said.
The CIDG chief and his men proceeded to Barangay Linandangan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao, where Baraguir and his relatives were waiting at 7 p.m. Baraguir, who refused to speak with reporters, is currently detained at the CIDG-BARMM custodial facility at PC Hill, this city.
“The suspect will be sent to Manila but we are awaiting an order from Judge Solis-Reyes after the warrant and the corresponding report is sent to her sala,” Gulmatico said.
Earlier, two massacre suspects were separately arrested in Maguindanao after the court convicted last month some 40 principal massacre perpetrators while acquitting several others. (PNA)
