2 Cebu policemen killed in just 7 days
Police formed two special investigation groups to examine the fatal shooting of two police officers in Cebu Province in the past week. Two gunmen shot PO2 Melchizedek Batomalaque while he was on his motorcycle just three meters from his home in Daanglungsod, Toledo City last Tuesday night. The attack came seven days after a gunman with an automatic rifle shot and killed PO3 Jonathan Tilos right after the policeman finished a workout in Poblacion, Alegria.
Two police officers allegedly linked to illegal drugs were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Cebu in six days, but a police official said the deaths were not part of an internal cleansing program.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas said they respect due process and follow the law in getting rid of erring officers. They have to prove the officer’s guilt based on evidence, he said.
“Ang pulis ay maka-Diyos, makatao, makabayan at makakalikasan (The police force is God-fearing, humane, patriotic, and protective of the environment),” he said.
The officers who were shot and killed were identified as PO2 Melchizedek Batomalaque and PO3 Jonathan Tilos. The two are included in a list of three active officers killed in the last six months.
Two special investigation task groups were formed by the Cebu Provincial Police Office to investigate the murders of Batomalaque and Tilos.
Last April 24, PO2 Kenneth Pogoy was shot dead near Plaza Independencia in Cebu City. He had been assigned to Marawi City before he was attacked.
Caught in entrapment
Two police-initiated drug busts resulted in the deaths of two active police officers in the past 10 months: Senior Insp. Raymond Hortezuela and PO3 Ryan Martus Quiamco.
Hortezuela of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office was killed in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City while Martus Quiamco died with his wife after he allegedly engaged the anti-narcotics operatives in a shootout in Talisay City in August 2017.
In another case of an erring officer, Sinas ordered the filing of charges against SPO2 Vicente dela Peña Gila Jr., who allegedly asked for P10,000 in exchange for a lost cellphone owned by John Vincent Gonzaga Rafols.
The policeman, who is assigned at the Consolacion Police Station, was caught in an entrapment inside a mall in Barangay Ibabao in Mandaue City yesterday.
An officer assigned in PRO 7 is also in trouble after he ran when he was about to undergo a drug test. He was given five days to report. The officer, who was marked absent without official leave, will face administrative cases.
In Batomalaque’s murder last Tuesday night, the officer was attacked by two gunmen while he was driving his motorcycle three meters from his house in Sitio Kabangkalan, Barangay Daanglungsod, Toledo City.
On President Duterte’s list
Sinas confirmed Batomalaque’s inclusion in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of alleged players in the illegal drug trade.
The officer, a former member of the Toledo City Police Station, succumbed to gunshot wounds in the head and other parts of his body. Three empty shells of a .45 pistol were found in the crime scene.
Batomalaque, identified as a high-value target, was transferred to PRO-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2016. He reportedly received an award for his work as intelligence officer in the unit.
He had been staying in his house in the past two weeks as he was attending to drug cases. Investigators still have to check if the victim indeed attended court hearings.
Last June 13, Tilos was shot dead by a gunman, who used an automatic rifle, after his gym workout in Barangay Poblacion, Alegria.
Tilos was allegedly in cahoots with self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones. He was transferred to Ginatilan Police Station from the Cebu Provincial Intelligence Branch in 2017.