Police seek proof their man pulled out firearm

Investigators are still in search of security camera footage that captured the moment when a police anti-drug operative was shot by the bodyguard of Tejero, Cebu City Barangay Councilor Jessielou Cadungog.

Senior Insp. Jomar Pomarejos, the Waterfront Police Station chief, said he sent his personnel yesterday to check establishments in the area in Tejero where the shooting took place past 8 a.m. last Monday.

The video, Pomarejos said, will either prove or disprove the claim of Cadungog’s bodyguard that he shot PO3 Eugene Calumba after he saw the man pull out a gun while on a motorcycle near the driver’s side of the vehicle the bodyguard was driving.

“Kon miingon ang drayber nga mibunot, i-prove pa na (He has to prove the man pulled out a gun),” Pomarejos said. “Bisag mangalot ka, mibunot man (He could just have been scratching himself ).”

Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said a reported plan of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 to file a complaint against Councilor Dave Tumulak for obstruction of justice is “pure harassment.”

“That’s pure bulls--t. It can’t even stand scrutiny. Let them file a case so they can make fools out of themselves. The nurse turned over the evidences to him (Tumulak) and he tried to turn it over to the police personnel there in the headquarters but they refused. And he’s being accused of withholding evidences and obstruction of justice? You’re full of sh-t, General,” said Osmeña, apparently referring to Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office 7.

Calumba was riding a motorcycle driven by Michael Banua, a civilian police asset, when he was shot past 8 a.m.

Pomarejos described Cadungog’s bodyguard as possibly “paranoid” or in a “state of being alert.”

“Naa’y namatay. Kinsa’y namusil maoy sad-an (Someone died. Whoever fired the shot is at fault),” Pomarejos said.

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 promised that no cover-up will happen in the investigation on Calumba’s death.

Supt. Reyman Tolentin, public information office chief, said they have no reason to hide the truth.

“If you say he was a hitman, a dead man tells no tales, so he cannot defend himself,” Tolentin said. “So if you say anything like he was a hitman or whatever, we would not believe that for the moment.”

Chief Supt. Sinas has said that Banua is not a suspect, but a witness to Calumba’s death.