8 cops awarded for bravery in Lanao del Sur

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — The eight police officers wounded in an ambush in Madamba town each got medals on Friday for gallantry in action.

Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao awarded the wounded policemen with Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting in a simple rite at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City.

Mijares told reporters via text message Saturday the wounded policemen ---- Captains Glen Lyca Gevero and Mark Harry Boglosa, Sergeants Marlon Panitan, Magno Olete and Niño Cadano, Corporals Ronald Rosco and Omar Masakal and Patrolman Arnel Montallana --- are now recuperating from gunshot wounds.

Mijares said PRO-BARMM officials will study the viability of promoting each of them to a rank higher.

"But that has to be studied thoroughly yet," Mijares said. 

They were in a team that tried to arrest early Thursday five murder suspects in Barangay Ilian in Madamba town in Lanao del Sur in an operation that went haywire when the men they were to serve with warrants resisted, sparking a gunfight.

Three of the wanted men, who were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and a companion, were killed in the shootout.

The raiding team was ambushed by relatives of the slain MILF members while moving out from Barangay Ilian en route to the provincial police office in Marawi City carrying assault rifles recovered at the scene of the initial encounter.

The firefight left eight personnel of PRO-BARMM wounded.

Each of them was awarded with a merit medal in recognition of their gallantry in performance of police duties, according to Mijares.

Two villagers who were trapped in the ensuing crossfire also sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies.