The chief of police of Tanza, Cavite was relieved of his post yesterday. Higher officials emphasized that the relief of Superintendent Conrado Villanueva was not a punishment but was meant to pave the way for an impartial probe into the murder of a tabloid reporter, Rubylita Garcia of Remate.
Garcia was in front of her house in Barangay Talaba, Bacoor, Cavite last Sunday morning when she was approached by two men who were seen loitering around the neighborhood. Witnesses said that after a brief talk, the men pulled out guns and pumped five bullets into Garcia in front of her son.
Villanueva was relieved not because of command responsibility but because Garcia, according to a Remate online report, had said the police chief was behind the attack. Garcia reportedly said this as she was being rushed to a hospital where she died. Fellow reporters said Garcia had a run-in with Villanueva at the Tanza police station on Wednesday last week.
That altercation might not be connected to the murder, but investigators are not taking any chances. Too many attacks on journalists have been attributed to government security forces and local politicians, with hardly anyone being arrested. This is widely believed to be the reason why only a few suspected murderers have been arrested and even fewer successfully prosecuted. The failure to give justice to victims has bred impunity that has led to the murders of scores of journalists even under the watch of President Aquino. Garcia is just the latest in a long and continually growing list of victims of this impunity.
In Garcia’s murder, police said the two assailants appeared to be hired guns. Perhaps Garcia’s dying words implicating a police officer will mean a quick and thorough probe that will give justice to her bereaved family.