A TOWN mayor in Maguindanao, who was earlier tagged by President Duterte as among the local chief executives involved in illegal-drugs business, was killed along with his nine companions following a shootout with policemen on Friday in North Cotabato.
Supt. Romeo Galgo, spokesman for the Central Mindanao police, said Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, and his companions, most of them his bodyguards, were killed after they shot it out with a joint team of the National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) and Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 12.
Dimaukom is a member of the Liberal Party, whose presidential candidate, former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, lost to Duterte of the ruling PDP-Laban.
The firefight occurred at around 4:30 a.m. on Friday on the national highway at Barangay Old Bulatukan, Makilala, North Cotabato.
Dimaukom was among those earlier named by Duterte on his first list of personalities involved in illegal drugs. The mayor later showed up in the National Police general headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, and denied any involvement in the drugs trade before Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, National Police chief.
In his report sent to Camp Crame, Galgo said the joint team of AIDG personnel and RPSB 12 established a checkpoint at Barangay Old Bulatukan after receiving information that Dimaukom and his group will transport illegal drugs into the Maguindanao and Cotabato areas.
He said the operating team coordinated with the Makilala police for the operations.
Galgo said Dimaukom and his companions engaged the policemen in a gun battle upon reaching the checkpoint put up by the police team.
“The suspects are heavily armed and fired upon the law enforcers, which prompted them to fire back,” Galgo said.
He said Dimaukom and the nine others were even taken to the Makilala Specialist Hospital but were declared dead on arrival by emergency-room physicians.
Meanwhile, the National Police spokesman, Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, said the “Oplan Double Barrel Alpha” is already in full swing, as at least 254 operations have already been conducted as of Friday.
In the operations, 11 drug personalities were killed, while 376 others were arrested.
“Oplan Double Barrel Alpha” replaced the original antidrugs campaign “Double Barrel” as the police moved to cover other areas in the ongoing anti-illegal-drugs drive.