EDITORIAL – Cop killer?

There are eyewitnesses, motorcycle license plates and the address of the original owner of the vehicle. It shouldn’t take too long for investigators of the Philippine National Police to identify the murderer of an Ateneo law graduate – unless the suspect is one of their own.

That suspicion keeps growing as the Pasay City police appears to stall in its investigation of the killing of Jose Ramon Llamas. The 26-year-old law graduate was driving on Taft Avenue in Pasay on his way to the De la Salle University last Friday afternoon when his car was hit on the left rear by a motorcycle. An altercation ensued. Witnesses reportedly said the motorcycle rider identified himself as a policeman. Reports said Llamas was about to write something down on a piece of paper when the man pulled out a .9mm pistol and opened fire. Llamas was hit twice in the head and once in the body. The gunman abandoned his motorcycle, boarded a tricycle and fled.

The scene of the crime is one of the busiest in Metro Manila, and it is particularly busy on a Friday afternoon. If it takes ages for the Pasay police to solve this murder, you can only guess what their solution rate is for other crimes. The slow pace – as well as the reported interest of city officials in the case — can only fan speculations that the murderer is a cop or a policeman’s relative. Apart from witnesses’ accounts, the .9mm is the service firearm of PNP members.

If the killer is a cop, it won’t be the first time that a member of the uniformed services has figured in a deadly traffic altercation. A few years ago two members of the Philippine Military Academy shot it out over parking space in Quezon City. One of the officers was killed. Law enforcers, including agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, have been known to chase – and gun down – motorists who refuse to be pulled over by armed men in civilian clothes.

Such trigger-happy law enforcers must be weeded out. Every person killed by an abusive cop further erodes public confidence in law enforcement agencies. If Llamas was gunned down by a cop, the PNP can boost its cleansing process by quickly finding the murderer.