JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, said he has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the incident that killed Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, two of his police security escorts and two other policemen.
While Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Debold Sinas described the incident as a shootout, Samar First District Representative Edgar Mary Sarmiento said it was an ambush perpetrated by policemen wearing balaclavas and using high-powered firearms.
Guevarra said the NBI investigation would ensure impartiality in establishing what really happened.
An initial police report said Aquino and his security escorts were traveling in a van along Laboyao Bridge in Barangay Lonoy, Calbayog City at around 5:30 p.m. Monday when armed men aboard two other vehicles fired at the mayor’s van.
A shootout ensued between the two groups, killing Aquino and his two police escorts. The police escorts who were killed have not been identified.
The occupants of the two other vehicles turned out to be policemen as well. Two of them were also killed and another was wounded.
PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana said the occupants of the two other vehicles were policemen from the Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group (IMEG), which goes after scalawags, and Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU).
Those killed in the IMEG-PDEU group were identified by the Eastern Visayas Police Regional Office (PRO-8) as Police Captain Joselito Tabada, police chief of Gandara, Samar, and Staff Sergeant Romeo Cobococ Laoyon of the PDEU.
Another policeman, identified as Staff Sergeant Neil Matarum Cebu, was also wounded.
Usana said the IMEG-PDEU group was conducting red teaming inspection in the area when they figured in the incident with the mayor’s group. The term red team refers to a group that uses strategies from an outsider perspective to address a specific problem.
Sinas said he received information that Aquino’s group fired the first shot allegedly because they thought they were being followed by the IMEG and PDEU policemen.
“The IMEG-PDEU group denies that Mayor Aquino was a subject of their operations or that he was targeted. The SITG shall confirm the veracity of this statement,” said Usana, referring to the special investigation task group that the PRO-8 had formed to look into the incident.
“PNP personnel involved also claimed they were initially unaware of the passengers on board the vehicle that fired upon them. It was only after the firefight that the said vehicle was identified to be owned by Mayor Aquino. The same remains to be validated,” Usana added.
Sarmiento, for his part, said witnesses told him it was an ambush.
“Ako’y nasasaktan na pinalalabas na shootout doon po sa ground zero. Maliwanag na maliwanag na sinasabi ng mga witnesses na talagang binaril muna ang sasakyan ni mayor,” he said in a radio interview.
“Doon naman sa mga nang-ambush, masakit sabihin kaya lang mga naka uniporme ito, mga miyembro pa ng PNP. Ako’y nagtataka bakit naka-bonnet at saka naka M-203 pa. Talagang handang-handa,” he added.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said they found Aquino’s killing alarming as it may indicate the beginning of election-related killings.
“Kinukundena po natin iyan dahil ang karapatang mabuhay po ay ang pinakaimportanteng karapatan. Nanunumbalik po kami at naalarma dahil isang mayor po ang pinatay baka ito’y simula na naman ng patayan dahil sa pulitika sa panahon na papalapit na ang eleksyon,” Roque said in a virtual press briefing.
“Ang demokrasya po, tao po ang humahalal at ang ating panawagan, hayaan po nating maghalal ang taongbayan sa pamamagitan ng pagpili ng sa tingin nila ang pinakaepektibong mga mamumuno. Itong political violence po has no place in a democracy. Kinukundena po natin iyan,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)