PNP Chief PGen Guillermo Eleazar confirmed the shooting of Sulu PNP Provincial Director PCol Michael Bawayan, Jr.
On August 6, Bawayan was reported to be conducting inspection at the quarantine control point Big Bites in Barangay Asturias, Jolo, Sulu when he was allegedly shot by Police Staff Sgt. Imran Jilah, a policeman assigned with the 3rd Maneuver Platoon of the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company. The place of the crime is said to be just about away from the residence of Provincial Governor’ Abdusakur Tan.
Bawayan’s security aides then engaged Jilah who died on the spot.
Bawayan was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival by doctors.
In a Statement, Eleazar said he ordered a thorough investigation of the matter. The Chief PNP instructed Police Brigadier General Eden Ugale, PNP Regional Director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR) to constitute a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) at the regional level that will coordinate all investigative efforts of PNP units.
The SITG will be composed of investigative teams from the CIDG-BAR, Regional Intelligence Division (RID), Crime Laboratory, Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD) and Jolo Police Station.
“We do not want to make hasty conclusions at this point. We’d rather await the result of the investigation,” PGen Eleazar said.
“I am not inclined to give a deadline for the SITG to finish its investigation, to avoid undue pressure that may lead to haphazard results,” he added.
Mindanews however, reports that Jilah allegedly pulled out his gun when his superior Bawayan reprimanded him for having grown long hair.
“Jolo Municipal Police said that it was not the first time that the police director called Jilah’s attention. “A few days earlier, the police chief reportedly warned Jilah about the long hair, which Bawayan found untidy. When Bawayan returned, he brought with him a pair of scissors to trim Jilah’s hair, but the suspect responded by drawing his gun right at the checkpoint and shot his superior, police said”, Mindanews said in a news report.
Bawayan who hails from Sagada, Mountain Province, was 49 years old./The Junction News Team
