LAST RESPECTS. Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos (left) and PNP Director, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., visit the remains of Lt. Reynaldo Samson, police chief of Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, who was killed in an ambush on Aug. 30, 2022. Police on Thursday (Nov. 10, 2022) filed charges against 10 armed suspects in connection with the ambush. (Photo courtesy of DXMS Cotabato)
COTABATO CITY – Police filed murder charges against 10 armed men linked to the August 30 ambush of a Maguindanao del Sur town police chief and his driver, an official said Friday.
“The charges have been filed Thursday before the prosecutor’s office,” Maj. Reggie Abellera, Maguindanao police spokesperson, said in a radio interview, referring to the killing of Lt. Reynaldo Samson, Ampatuan town police chief, and Corporal Salipudin Endab.
Abellera said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-BARMM) filed the double murder and frustrated murder charges against a certain Commander Jacket, a sub-leader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and nine others involved in the incident.
Samson and four police officers were ambushed as they were serving an arrest warrant against Commander Jacket in Barangay Kapinpilan, Ampatuan.
Samson and Endab were fatally hit in the ensuing gunfight, but the three remaining injured police officers managed to return fire.
Abellera said the group of Commander Jacket was also charged with damage to property and theft after they took the firearms and other personal belongings of the two slain police officers.
In the aftermath of the ambush, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. and Philippine National Police Director, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., condoled with the relatives of the slain cops and visited the injured police officers at the Maguindanao provincial hospital.
Abalos also awarded the wounded policemen, identified as Master Sgt. Renante Quinalayo, and Corporals Rogelio dela Cuesta Jr. and Marc Clint Dayaday, with the “Medalya ng Kadakilaan” and “Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting.” (PNA)
