Probers tag drug gangs in Malabon cop’s murder

MANILA, Philippines - The killing of an intelligence officer in front of his neighbors by a hitman sent by a drug gang is meant to cow the Malabon City police, an official said yesterday.

Malabon police chief Senior Superintendent Severino Abad told The STAR that drug gangs behind the murder of Senior Police Officer 2 Joel Fernandez on Friday afternoon at the basketball court of Barangay Tanong “want to send a strong message that they can do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want.”

Abad said that Malabon’s police officers “are not afraid of them. In fact, we are declaring an all-out war against drug syndicates in the city and we’re going after them.”

According to homicide investigator Police Officer 3 Rommel Habig, Fernandez was playing a pick-up game at around 3:30 p.m. when he asked to be substituted. He went to a bench and pulled out his cell phone.

An unidentified assailant then approached Fernandez while he was on the phone and shot him repeatedly before he and four accomplices fled the scene.

Abad said Fernandez, who was detailed at the intelligence unit, was previously assigned at the anti-illegal drug unit and could have provoked local crime gangs.

However, he did not deny reports that Fernandez allegedly headed a group of individuals who “managed” parking at the city hall for a fee.

Abad said Fernandez was known to be close to the family of Mayor Antolin Oreta III, “but everything he does is of his own accord and the mayor has nothing to do with it.”

Abad said the city’s peace and order council will come up with a P200,000 bounty for any information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects.

He said they are still checking if Raymond Mangali, who allegedly led a gun-for-hire gang, was the man who shot Fernandez.

Mangali and Senior Police Officer 4 Hector Laceda, 51, were killed in an encounter in Navotas last Saturday when Laceda – a member of Quezon City’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group – and personnel from the Northern Police District and CIDG-National Capital Region served an arrest warrant on Mangali, who was wanted for murder in three cities.