Ex-police major, companion shot dead in Maguindanao del Sur ambush

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March 4, 2026 | 6:44pm

COTABATO CITY — A retired police major with a long history in peacebuilding, along with his companion, was killed in an ambush in Barangay Pagagawan, Datu Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur, on Tuesday afternoon, March 3.

Officials from the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and Datu Montawal police chief Capt. Nurjhasier Sali told reporters on Wednesday, March 4, that Elias Dandan, a retired Philippine National Police major, and his companion Raymond Bioy were killed by gunfire in the ambush.

Both victims, residents of Barangay Calawag in nearby Pikit town, Cotabato, were riding a black Mitsubishi Strada pick-up truck, bearing license plates LGT 243, when armed men attacked them with pistols along a stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Barangay Pagagawan, Datu Montawal, killing them instantly.

Datu Montawal is one of the 24 towns in Maguindanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The assailants of Dandan and Bioy immediately escaped using getaway motorcycles.

Local officials in Pikit told reporters that Dandan, a Christian, served as a peace and security adviser to their municipal government and was a strong supporter of police-led community relations programs in the town and surrounding areas in Cotabato’s first district.

He was also recognized for his extensive work promoting religious and cultural solidarity between Muslim and Christian communities in Pikit.

Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen de Guzman, director of PRO-BAR, said local executives and traditional Moro leaders in Datu Montawal have pledged to assist investigators in identifying the perpetrators behind the killing of Dandan and Bioy.