Good riddance was the common reaction to reports that the suspected ringleader of a notorious robbery gang and one of his key henchmen had been shot dead while in police custody the other night. Ricky Cadavero allegedly headed the Ozamis gang, tagged in a string of deadly robberies at several banks and shopping malls in Metro Manila and Cavite.
Cadavero and his cohort Wilfredo Panogalinga were killed on their way back to the Bureau of Corrections from inquest late Monday afternoon in Dasmariñas, Cavite. Suspected gangmen sprung the two from the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa in a daring caper in December last year. They were recaptured last Friday and presented to the press at Camp Crame at noon the other day. Hours later, they lay dead in San Pedro, Laguna, allegedly after trying to wrest the gun from their police escorts during a purported ambush.
The Ozamis gang has a track record for bold attacks that could make the story about the ambush plausible. But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima herself has raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the killings, starting with why the two had to be brought to Cavite for an inquest that could have been done at the NBP, and how they ended up in Sta. Rosa.
Relatives of those slain in Ozamis gang robberies will shed no tears for the two men. But the two could have led lawmen to the elusive mastermind of the gang, believed to be a Mindanao politician. If investigation shows that the two were executed by their police captors, it is another stain on the Philippine National Police. The PNP has not yet recovered from the suspected massacre of an alleged gambling lord and 12 of his companions in Atimonan, Quezon on Jan. 6 this year.
Filipinos impatient with the snail-paced administration of justice are often ready to look the other way when notorious crime suspects are killed in police operations. The problem with summary execution is that innocent people can get caught in the crossfire, and even for those who may be involved in criminal activity, capital punishment can be too heavy for the offense. This makes it important for authorities to determine the truth behind the deaths of the Ozamis gang members. Short cuts make for lazy and inefficient law enforcement. They can also lead to a miscarriage of justice.