MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) created a task force to investigate the ambush that targeted 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.
Macacua and his group were unharmed.
The incident happened less than a month before the Sept. 14 BARMM parliamentary elections.
“SITG ICM (Special Investigation Task Group Interim Chief Minister) was already created and they had a first meeting immediately after the incident,” PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co said in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Monday.
READ: Ambush vs BARMM chief Macacua won’t affect Sept. 14 polls – PNP
“As of now, it’s still a suspected ERI (election-related incident)… We have no ERIs recorded yet as of now. Possibly, this will be the first if this will be considered an ERI,” Co explained.
He noted that police investigators so far recovered 81 fired gun cartridges at the scene of the purported ambush: 15 from a caliber 5.56 gun; five from a caliber 7.62 gun; and 61 others yet to be matched to a firearm.
The PNP public information chief added that the recovered fired gun cartridges will be undergoing testing to determine their origins.
“We will leave no stone unturned. We will be able to identify the perpetrators,” Co stressed.
As for security measures in the area ahead of the polls, Co said the PNP is still waiting on the assessment from the Commission on Elections and partner agencies like the Armed Forces of the Philippines on whether or not to intensify police deployment.
“If ever their assessment changes, we will be adjusting accordingly,” the police official noted.
A total of at least 9,400 police officers have, so far, been deployed for the elections.
Macacua was recently elected president and chairperson of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party.
He is running to be the representative of Maguindanao del Norte’s third district. /apl
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