MANILA, Philippines — The killing of a Bureau of Customs (BOC) employee in Sta. Ana, Manila last week is not an isolated case, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Sunday.
Probers are doing a case analysis to establish leads in the series of murders of BOC personnel, PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos said.
Carlos said he had ordered a deeper probe into the killing of Gil Manlapaz Jr., 47, Customs information and technology operator, to determine the pattern of the ambuscades and track down the suspects.
Manlapaz was the latest victim of a series of killings that targeted BOC employees since December last year, based on police records.
“It is unlikely that this is an isolated case since the first two incidents happened last December then the next one occurred last month,” Carlos said. “I instructed our investigators to get to the bottom of these incidents.”
Carlos said probers obtained closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showing Manlapaz being stalked by gunmen minutes prior to the killing.
“This will be helpful since we also have CCTV records of the previous incidents. We want to find out if there are similarities on how these killings were executed,” Carlos said.
Black armband
The Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) yesterday called on its estimated 2,500 members to wear black armbands to protest the killings of BOC personnel.
“We are asking all BOCEA members nationwide to wear black armbands starting today to condemn these senseless killings,” the group said in a statement.
Six attacks on BOC officials and employees had been recorded from Dec. 23, 2021 to Feb. 11.
Two Customs employees died and two others were wounded in the attacks.
Aside from Manlapaz, BOC senior appraiser Eudes Nerpio was killed in an ambush on Jan. 7.
Melvin Tan, a lawyer, and Ryan Difuntorum, BOC assistant section chief, survived separate ambuscades last year.
A grenade exploded outside the house of BOC Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Group Teddy Raval on Feb. 9. He survived the attack. A grenade was lobbed recently at the Customs police office, but it did not explode.
Officials of the BOC employees union said police have yet to determine the motives and the identities of the suspects behind the attacks.
They called on Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to take “concrete steps to protect BOC personnel.”
They believe that the P300,000 reward offered by the BOC for the suspects’ capture is not enough. – Evelyn Macairan