Entire Negros city police force sacked

MANILA, Philippines — The entire police force of Bayawan City, Negros Oriental was relieved yesterday following the daring assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo that also left eight others dead.

The getaway vehicles, high-powered guns and other materials allegedly used by the suspects in the killing of Degamo at his house in Pamplona town on March 4 were recovered in Bayawan City.

Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesman for the Philippine National Police Special Investigation Task Group Degamo, said the relief was in compliance with orders from PNP headquarters at Camp Crame.

The entire police force was relieved, Pelare said, “as an operational and tactical decision of the Command, probably to make sure that the remaining suspects will be arrested.”

He noted that all the suspects arrested by police – Joric Labrador, Joven Javier, Banjie Rodriguez and Osmundo Rivero – who used to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), were arrested in Bayawan City, where another suspect also died in a gunbattle with pursuing police troopers and Army soldiers.

“We want to make sure that we have fresh legs on the ground, to conduct the pursuit operations,” Pelare said.

The relieved police force has been temporarily assigned at the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office headquarters, he added.

As to the peace and order situation in Bayawan, Pelare said that they have maximum police presence in the city and neighboring areas, as manhunt operations against the remaining suspects are still ongoing.

As to the gun ballistic examinations, Pelare reported that there were matches on the ammunition and firearms recovered in Bayawan. He further said all owners of the vehicles, which were abandoned by the suspects, have already been identified, with some registered in Cebu.

Witness protection

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said suspects in the killing of Degamo have been placed under the Department of Justice’s witness protection program (WPP) as operations against the mastermind continue.

Abalos declined to name the suspected mastermind in the assault but said they are investigating all leads and angles to identify who is behind the gruesome killing.

“The witness protection program is very important for us to determine the mastermind here. The mastermind might panic, what’s important is that we study all angles and collate all evidence and a manhunt is currently ongoing,” he said in an interview on dzRH.

The head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that while President Marcos did not give them a deadline to solve the case, law enforcement agencies were directed to swiftly put perpetrators to justice.

Willing to cooperate

The four suspects in the killing of Degamo have expressed their willingness to cooperate with authorities and divulge information behind the mastermind, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

In a statement, the DOJ said the four suspects arrived at the national police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Tuesday morning escorted by Special Action Force commandos. They were booked on murder charges and underwent medical examinations.

Two of the respondents, who have yet to be named, were then turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation and officers of the WPP after they expressed willingness to cooperate with the investigation.

Earlier, DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said the pair’s statements would be examined to see whether they could lead to the arrest of other possible suspects, including masterminds, which could then qualify them under the WPP.

The remaining two suspects were supposed to be under police custody but expressed their willingness to cooperate on Tuesday, prompting their turnover to the NBI.

Meanwhile, the DOJ also disclosed that criminal complaints for three counts of murder and frustrated murder have been filed before the Tanjay Regional Trial Court in Negros Oriental against the four and 12 other unnamed suspects.

Separate sets of criminal complaints for three counts of violating firearms regulation laws were filed against Javier, Rodriguez and Labrador before the Bayawan RTC. The DOJ said it intends to take cognizance of all these and further cases that may be filed in relation to the deadly attack.

Well-planned

Governor Degamo was under surveillance by the gunmen who killed him over the weekend, according to Pelare.

“This was a deliberate and well-planned attack on the governor perpetrated by highly trained ex-military,” Pelare said over “The Chiefs” on One News channel.

During interrogation, Pelare said the suspects admitted they were monitoring Degamo’s movements, including his weekly activities of receiving constituents at his house in Pamplona town.

Investigators also established the gunmen were from other areas from Mindanao and Western Visayas and were only recruited by whoever ordered the attack on Degamo.

Dishonorably discharged

The three former soldiers tagged involved in Degamo’s slay were discharged from military service years ago due to alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar clarified yesterday that the suspects are no longer in military service.

He noted that the former soldiers were dishonorably discharged from the service years ago for various offenses.

“Per records, the three former soldiers arrested, were separated from the military service for AWOL (absent without official leave) and involvement in illegal drugs, which is a serious offense that the organization would never tolerate,” Aguilar said.

One of the arrested suspects was a former close-in security of Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. “Sgt. Labrador was detailed to me from 4th ID for around three years. I terminated Labrador detail in 2014 because he was involved in illegal drugs,” Rodriguez was quoted in a newspaper report on Monday.

Maj. Francisco Garello, head of the army’s public affairs division in Camp Evangelista, said that before being AWOL in 2014, Labrador was assigned with Army’s 4ID Military Intelligence Battalion with adequate military training in intelligence and close quarter battle.

Vital information

As the suspects have vital information that could lead to the mastermind of Degamo’s killing, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said officials decided it is better for the four to be detained at Camp Crame.

“We have gained material information from these arrested suspects that we can use to possibly determine the mastermind in the case involving Governor Degamo,” she said in Filipino in a press briefing.

On the statement of Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. that authorities are going to implicate him in Degamo’s killing, Fajardo said the lawmaker is entitled to his own opinion as she stressed that whatever the outcome of their investigation, it is going to be based on evidence they have gathered.

“We will proceed where the evidence points us, regardless of whomever it points to,” she said.

PNP public information officer Col. Redrico Maranan likewise said that the police will be working with the AFP to intensify its law enforcement operations aimed at dismantling armed groups in the country, in the wake of recent attacks on local government officials.

One-strike policy

Sen. Bong Revilla urged the DILG and the PNP to immediately implement a one-strike policy on police officials and personnel in areas where heinous acts of violence are perpetrated.

“The PNP has a one-strike policy but on illegal gambling, lewd shows, and illegal cockfights—one-strike—you’re automatically relieved. But here in the brazen attacks on our democracy, the attacks on our elected officials, there’s no one-strike policy,” Revilla said.

Revilla said police officials in areas where gruesome acts of violence are carried should immediately be relieved from their posts, be made accountable, and depending on the facts in each case, should be penalized for their failures. – Romina Cabrera, Emmanuel Tupas, Michael Punongbayan, Neil Jayson Servallos, Gerry Lee Gorit, Paolo Romero