Police Lieutenant Colonel Walter Annayo, 41, a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) was brutally killed in a shooting incident in Maguindanao province on Saturday, November 21.
Annayo was an Igorot from Besao, Mountain Province and a resident of 24 Private Road, Magsaysay Avenue, Baguio City. He is currently assigned to the Regional Personnel Holding & Accounting Office of PRO BAR.
According to PNP-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR) Regional Director Brigadier General Samuel Rodriguez from Cotabato City, the victim was returning to the camp in his Toyota Fortuner with license plate GAL-2258 but when he reached Brgy Macabiso, Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao, he got out of his car to buy buko juice.
But suddenly a white Toyota Fortuner arrived and one of its occupants shot Annayo with a .45 caliber pistol.
The suspects quickly fled in the direction of Parang, Maguindanao.
Lieutenant Colonel Annayo died on the spot when he sustained bullet wounds to his head and back.
The victim was recently transferred to the PRO-BAR Regional headquarters a few days after the Jolo shootout on June 29, 2020, in which four Army Intelligence Officers were killed.
Earlier this year, Annayo, along with five other policemen in Jolo, and three members of the Sulu Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were reportedly charged with murder due to the death of Army intelligence operatives in Jolo.
A few months after the incident, the PNP Internal Affairs Service also filed administrative cases and criminal complaints against the police officers.
The Sultan Mastura PNP is still investigating with the military in the shooting death of the officer.
CIDG to assist in the investigation into the murder of former Jolo Chief of Police PLTCOL Annayo says PNP Chief Sinas
PNP General Debold Sinas has ordered an in-depth investigation into the murder of former Jolo Police Station chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Walter Annayo.
At the presscon on the morning of November 23 at Camp Crame, Sinas said that the PNP CIDG will assist in resolving the case to achieve justice for the family of the victim of the police official.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PROBAR) Police Regional Office is currently investigating the incident.
Sinas, on the other hand, is confident that the truth will also come out behind the shooting of LtCol. Annayo.
All angles and possible motives for the crime are also being investigated.
Sinas said the nine Jolo police suspects in the murder of four army officers also found out that Annayo was killed and that they were saddened by the incident.
Sinas clarified that so far there is no indication that Annayo's murder was related to Jolo fatal shooting.
On November 23, Annayo's cadaver was transported home to his family in Baguio City.
