Death of Sulu police chief, attacker 'isolated case' — BARMM police

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Bangsamoro police has condemned the brutal killing of the Sulu provincial police director by a recalcitrant subordinate-policeman in Jolo town on Friday.

Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Saturday the incident, which resulted in the death of Col. Michael Bawayan Jr. and his attacker, Staff Sgt. Emran Jilah, was an “isolated case.”

Ugale said the incident should not cause demoralization among members of the Philippine National Police in Sulu.

“We are saddened by the incident. We mourn their demise in that very unfortunate incident,” Ugale said.

Bawayan, 49, was inspecting an anti-COVID-19 checkpoint in Barangay Asturias in Jolo where saw the long-haired Jilah

They first had a heated argument when Bawayan attempted to cut Jilah’s hair with a pair of scissors before gunshots reverberated through the scene.

Bawayan was repeatedly shot by the 43-year-old Jilah with his service firearm before escorts of the officer felled him with assault rifles, killing him on the spot.

Bawayan, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds, was declared dead on arrival by physicians at the nearby Sulu Provincial Hospital.

He belonged to the Kankaney indigenous community in the Mountain Province in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Jilah was a Tausug, who was born and raised in Sulu, one of the five provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Bangsamoro region also covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

Ugale said Bawayan was a good and trustworthy officer.

He said Bawayan had remarkable accomplishments while at the helm of the Sulu Provincial Police Office.

The Sulu PPO covers 18 predominantly Tausug towns, some of which are island municipalities far from Jolo, the provincial capital of Sulu.