Officer hurt, 3 arrested in South Cotabato police operation

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A municipal police chief was hurt in a shootout on Wednesday, April 16, with a narcotics trafficker from whose house in Barangay Poblacion in Norala, South Cotabato his subordinate-policemen and soldiers found a grenade and P141,440 worth of shabu after the incident.

Local executives and barangay officials told reporters on Thursday, April 17, that the suspect, Jobert Silva Felongco, 39, and his two companions, Abelardo Sionosa Ceralbo, 36, and the 24-year-old Mia Sangid Maguan, are now locked in a police detention facility.

Officials of the South Cotabato Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-12 said Major Jose Golez, Jr., municipal police chief of Norala, and his men were to search for shabu and firearms in the house of Felongco but he resisted at first, pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and opened fire.

Felongco, who hit Golez in the arm, was subdued and disarmed by policemen and personnel of the Army’s 38 th Infantry Battalion involved in the search operation, which was based on a warrant from the Regional Trial Court Branch 26 in Surallah, South Cotabato, signed by Judge Felix Mesa, dated April 8, 2025.

Golez was transported to a hospital for treatment by emergency responders and was allowed by attending physicians to leave after receiving first aid for his superficial gunshot wound.

Soldiers and policemen found a fragmentation grenade and shabu, worth P141,440, and drug sniffing paraphernalia in the house of Felongco that he reportedly operated occasionally as a drug den with the help of Ceralbo and Maguan.

Golez had told reporters that they are to prosecute Felongco and his two companions for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

He said they shall also separately charge Felongco with assault on persons of authority and illegal possession of a Colt .45 caliber pistol and a fragmentation grenade.

Provincial police officials said the operation that resulted in the arrest of Felongco and his three accomplices was carried out with the help of barangay officials and confidential informants aware of their illegal activities.