Fugitive cop taunts Cebu City officials anew

CEBU CITY — Fugitive policeman Engelberto Durano thumbed his nose again at city officials the other day, taunting them to raise all the reward money they could for his capture because, he said, he would never surrender.

Durano, in a cellphone interview with The Freeman, said the P100,000 reward money now being dangled for his capture would be better spent if it is instead given to his comrades who are now facing court cases.

"I will just wait until the reward reaches a million pesos," he said in jest, without elaborating if that is how much it will take to capture him.

Durano, wanted for the murder of tricycle driver Rogelio Bacalso in Busay last December, broke his silence amid reports that authorities plan to increase the reward for his capture.

But his boast only fanned more suspicions that either the police are half-heartedly pursuing him or that top police officials are protecting him, something which regional police director Avelino Razon quickly dismissed.

Regional intelligence chief Napoleon Sesante, himself the object of speculations, brushed aside suspicions that he is the one protecting Durano, saying it is an unfair accusation.

"Who am I? Do I have the capability to protect him?" he asked.

Durano is seen to be close to Sesante, having ran errands for the former Cebu City police chief.

But Sesante said the speculations started long before, when he was still the police chief, and was apparently fueled by his order asking six policemen from different stations, including Durano, to report directly to him.

Sesante said people thought he was using the lawmen for collections and that he had brainwashed them. If only reporters had dug deeper into the story, he said he would not have been subjected to these insinuations.

He clarified that he is not the head of the task force sent to bring Durano in but is only supervising its operations.

Durano himself said no police officer or relative helped him elude arrest.

Police initially offered only P50,000 as reward for his capture but this was raised to P100,000 when an anonymous donor volunteered another P50,000. — Freeman News Service