Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas has ordered an investigation into the shooting incident that killed a former police chief of Jolo, Sulu, Lt. Col. Walter Annayo, in Sultan Mastura town of Maguindanao province on Saturday.
PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana said the incident is now being handled by the concerned police regional office.
“The CPNP (chief Philippine National Police Debold Sinas) himself has tasked the regional police director to look into the case,” Usana said in a statement sent to reporters.
“For now, the PNP cannot ascertain, much less release any result yet as to the motive behind, not even the connection to his previous assignment as chief of police of Jolo police station where the case involving the alleged shootout between the police and military operatives last July happened. The police will still investigate,” Usana added.
A police report from the Sultan Mastura police station said at around 1:45 p.m., Annayo alighted from his vehicle to buy a drink along Narciso Ramos Highway in Barangay Macabiso when unidentified suspects onboard a sports utility vehicle gunned him down and fled towards Parang town.
Annayo sustained gunshot wounds to his head and different parts of his body that resulted in his instantaneous death.
Annayo, 41, was relieved from his post following the alleged “misencounter” between his men and four Army intelligence officers on June 29 this year.
He was reassigned at the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Parang, Maguindanao following the incident.