The Philippine National Police has created a task force to investigate the ambush targeting Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof “Sammy Gambar” Macacua.
Unidentified gunmen fired at Macacua’s convoy in Maguindanao del Norte on Saturday afternoon but failed to harm him or any of his personnel, with less than a month remaining before the Sept. 14 BARMM parliamentary elections.
“SITG ICM (Special Investigation Task Group Interim Chief Minister) was already created and they had their first meeting immediately after the incident,” PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co said in a press briefing at Camp Crame on Monday.
“As of now, it’s still a suspected ERI (election-related incident). We have no ERIs recorded yet. Possibly, this will be the first if this will be considered an ERI,” Co said.
He said police investigators had recovered 81 spent cartridges at the scene of the purported ambush: 15 from a caliber 5.56 firearm, five from a caliber 7.62 firearm and 61 others that had yet to be matched to a firearm.
The recovered cartridges will undergo testing to determine the firearms from which they were fired, Co said.
“We will leave no stone unturned. We will be able to identify the perpetrators,” Co stressed.
Assessment
On security measures ahead of the elections, Co said the PNP was still awaiting assessments from the Commission on Elections and partner agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, on whether to increase security deployments.
“If ever their assessment changes, we will be adjusting accordingly,” he said.
Co said at least 9,400 police officers had so far been deployed for the elections.
Macacua was sworn in as president and chairperson of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party last Saturday in Barangay Gambar, Kabuntalan, Maguindanao del Norte.
He is running to represent Maguindanao del Norte’s third district.
In a phone interview with reporters later on Monday, Police Regional Office-BARMM spokesperson Cpt. Steffi Salanguit said a suspected unexploded ordnance had been recovered in Kabuntalan during Macacua’s swearing-in ceremony.
“It wasn’t that far from the venue, but it also wasn’t that close to the venue. It was in a secluded area,” Salanguit said.
She also said an explosion occurred along the road taken by Macacua’s convoy before the ambush.
“We can say that these were related to slow them down,” she added. INQ
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