Authorities hunt gunmen behind Maguindanao barangay exec's death

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January 9, 2026 | 6:47pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police and Army intelligence agents and local executives are together searching for the gunmen behind the fatal ambush on Wednesday, January 7, in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur a barangay chairman tough on illegal drug traffickers and a close relative.

Norodin Sindatukan Utto, barangay chairman in Panadtaban in Radjah Buayan, and his cousin, Arto Utto Mangilala, were riding a motorcycle together, on their way to his office, when they were attacked by gunmen positioned along the route, killing them both instantly.

Their assailants immediately escaped using getaway motorcycles.

Local executives and officials of the Radjah Buayan Municipal Police Station told reporters on Friday that it was Utto, who was known for his hardline stance in dealing with peddlers of shabu and marijuana in the municipality and for his active involvement in Army’s continuing hunt for the few remaining members of the now both defunct Dawlah Islamiya and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Friday that intelligence agents from PRO-BAR and the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office are helping officials of the Radjah Buayan police force and local executives locate the gunmen who perpetrated the atrocity.

Officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said plainclothes operatives from intelligence units of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade are helping the police search for the men behind the ambush that left Utto and Mangilala dead.