COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Updated July 12, 2024; 1:23 p.m.) — Police forensic experts found P324,000 worth of shabu, grenades and materials for improvised explosive devices in the hideout of the five bandits killed in a clash with policemen on Wednesday in Barangay New Panay in Aleosan, Cotabato.
A Special Action Force commando, Cpl. Jed Michael Gregorio, perished in the incident that left three of his companions wounded.
A team of combined SAF personnel under the operational control of the Police Regional Office-12, operatives from the Aleosan Municipal Police Station and the Cotabato Provincial Police Office were to search for firearms and narcotics in the hideout in Purok 7 in Barangay New Panay of Macabuat Salik, but he and his companions opened fire, sparking a gunfight.
Macabuat and his four followers, Norhamen Malidas, Raup Malidas, Faisal Kanggel and Palog Sakib all died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds sustained in the encounter, their assault rifles found beside their cadavers.
Local officials and traditional Moro leaders who led the police to the hideout of Macabuat in New Panay told reporters on Thursday that he and his men were also involved in cattle theft besides distributing shabu to contacts in interior areas in the Aleosan.
Brig. Gen. Percival Augustus Placer, director of PRO-12, said on Thursday that they shall award Gregorio with a posthumous citation for gallantry and provide his family with essential support needed for his burial.
Placer said they are thankful to residents of Barangay New Panay and the local officials in Aleosan for having reported to them the illegal activities of Macabuat and his men, the basis for their supposedly peaceful search for firearms and illegal drugs in their hideout that turned awry when they refused to cooperate.