COTABATO CITY (October 10, 2025, Friday) — Soldiers arrested and turned over to the police on Friday, October 10, one of the six men who beheaded a Teduray tribal chieftain in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur week.
Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, and personnel of the Division Public Affairs Office of the 6th Infantry Division had relayed to reporters via Viber that the suspect was cornered by soldiers in Sitio Sitio Pangayawan in Barangay Tukanalugong in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur before dawn Friday.
The now detained suspect and five others, who are at still large, were tagged in the brutal killing and beheading on October 30 of Ramon Lupos, a Teduray timuay, or chieftain, in a secluded area in their state-recognized ancestral domain in Barangay Limpongo in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur.
Neighbors and relatives of Lupos had told reporters his killers first beat him with planks of wood and shot him repeatedly before they cut his neck with a machete like an animal.
Catu said combined personnel of the 601st Infantry Brigade and its component-unit, the 90th Infantry Battalion, under Lt. Col Luqui Marco, immediately searched for the suspect in Sitio Sitio Pangayawan in Barangay Tukanalugong in Datu Abdullah Sangki after villagers reported his presence in the area.
The suspect, initially identified only as Tagal, is a member of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group, according to local executives who assisted the Army operation that led to his arrest.
Local officials said the Tagal, a Maguindanaon, yielded peacefully and turned in his .45 caliber pistols to soldiers who barged into his hideout and frisked him.
Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of 6th ID, said they are thankful to the vigilant residents of Datu Abdullah Sangki for informing promptly the officials of the 90th IB about Tagal’s presence iin Barangay Tukanalugong.
Officials of the 90th IB immediately turned over Tagal to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for proper detention.
Photo shows the suspect in the beheading of the tribal leader Lupos, now in the custody of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.