Gen. Debold Sinas, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered the investigation of the killing of Lt. Col. Walter Annayo, the chief of police of Jolo when the four military intelligence operatives were killed five months ago.
Annayo, 41, went out of his car to buy buko juice along Narciso Highway in Barangay Macabiso in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, when an unidentified man repeatedly shot him in the head and different parts of the body.
Annayo, who is currently in a floating status due to the Jolo incident, died on the spot.
Sinas said he had already directed the regional director of Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) to look into all the circumstances that could be the reason behind the death of Annayo.
PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana would not comment if the killing had something to do with the death of four military intelligence operatives near the Jolo Police Station on June 29.
“For now, the PNP cannot ascertain, much less release any result yet as to the motive behind. Not even to his previous assignment as chief of Police of Jolo Police Station where the case involving the alleged shootout between the police and the military operatives last June happened,” said Usana.
“We are still investigating,” he added.
The gunman, according to the police report, fled in a sports utility vehicle.
The death of Maj. Marvin Indammog, Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco and Corporal Abdal Asula triggered anger among the soldiers assigned in Sulu, which prompted President Duterte himself to go to Western Mindanao to appease the soldiers.
Indammog and Managuelod were both members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
The four military intelligence operatives were tailing suspected suicide bombers in Jolo when their vehicle was flagged down by local policemen. The soldiers identified themselves as military intelligence officers but allegedly failed to show identification cards, so they were directed to go to the Jolo police station.
Reports said the soldiers’ vehicle did not park in front of the police station which prompted the policemen to corner them. Later gunshots were heard and all the four soldiers were killed.
Police linked Asula to a local crime syndicate operating in Sulu and said he was seen using the vehicle roaming around the police station after one of his relatives was killed in an anti-drugs operation.
The military, however, denied the allegations and accused the local police of planting evidence.
The nine policemen involved in the death of the four soldiers are now facing charges in connection with the incident.