Maguindanao top cop sacked

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The provincial police director of Maguindanao was relieved from his post last Friday amid claims that he failed to detect the plan of a bandit gang to attack five towns in the province.

The military also closed a stretch of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway connecting Datu Unsay and Datu Saudi towns for about three hours on Friday, after Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) bandits opened fire at an Army detachment.

Responding soldiers drove the bandits away after a brief firefight.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police command named Senior Superintendent Jaime Pido of Shariff Aguak town as new Maguindanao police chief.

Pido replaced Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac, who was reassigned to the regional police headquarters at Camp S.K. Pendatun in Maguindanao’s Parang town.

Police officials refused to comment when asked if Pintac’s relief was related to his command’s failure to detect the plot of the BIFM to launch simultaneous attacks on five Maguindanao towns.

Maguindanao’s provincial information office, in an emailed statement, quoted Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu as assuring Pido of his administration’s support.

Mangudadatu said the provincial police office has to play a key role in the restoration of normalcy in towns attacked by the BIFM.

Mangudadatu said the provincial police would also coordinate with the ARMM’s social welfare department and the office of the region’s acting governor, Mujiv Hataman, in working out the return of evacuees to their villages.