She said, He said

SPO1 Adonis Dumpit died in the hands of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents and local police in Tagbilaran City, Bohol yesterday morning.

Dumpit, according to his live-in partner Maria Ella Amores, was reporting to work early because they were expecting the arrival of the Police Regional Office 7 director for a security briefing to discuss President Duterte’s upcoming visit to the province.

Amores said that Dumpit even brought a clothes hanger so he could change into his uniform at the camp and a book that he was going to photocopy.

But according to the police spot report, the NBI in Bohol, led by Atty. Renan Oliva, and the Tagbilaran City police were conducting a “drug bust” against Dumpit in Purok 1, Dagohoy Road in the San Isidro District.

Dumpit, who was a known sharpshooter, allegedly fired at the operating team, which resulted in a shootout. The police officer was killed on the spot.

But if you ask Amores, a white sports utility vehicle sped after Dumpit as soon as he left the house. Another van, she said, blocked his path. Then they heard gunshots, she said.

Fifteen packs of shabu were allegedly recovered from Dumpit.

NBI 7 Director Patricio Bernales said the operation was legitimate, as Dumpit had been identified as a high-level target and a drug protector. That was certainly news to us here in Cebu. After all, Dumpit was many things, a killer being one of them, but a “level 2 drug lord?”

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the man who stood by the police officer through thick and thin, found this highly “speculative,” although he was quick to add that he had lost touch with his former close-in aide since the latter was assigned to Bohol.

“Dumpit was my best policeman. It feels so sad that something like this has happened. There are a lot of questions that I myself have to ask. He definitely served me well and was not involved in drugs when he was here. There are speculations about him and people that were involved in drugs whom he met while in jail in Leyte. I don’t know if he was involved with them,” Osmeña said.

I have to give it to the mayor, when someone is loyal to him, he returns the favor even to that person’s dying breath.

I never met Dumpit, but I know a lot of colleagues who knew him. And they all could not believe that he would get involved in illegal drugs.

Well, I would like to point out that the police organization’s internal cleansing program is after cops who are linked to criminal activities, and a homicide conviction surely qualifies as one.

So maybe it was easier for authorities to pin the “drug lord” tag on Dumpit. Or, they knew something we didn’t.