COP NAMED IN PDEA AGENT’S SLAY ‘IS DEAD’
SPO1 BALILI ‘WRONGLY ACCUSED’
A day after Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas said that SPO1 Roderick Balili was “stable, good, buhi,” the PRO 7 spokesman announced yesterday that Balili has died.
Balili, the policeman who had been named by non-police sources as the gunman of an anti- narcotics agent in Carcar City last August 8, died 8 p.m. of August 10.
At past 10 a.m. of August 10, Friday, PRO 7 director Sinas and a few of his officers held a press conference wherein Sinas, asked by reporters about the condition of Balili, said, “(Balili is) stable, good, buhi (alive).” In that same press conference, the police officials denied that Balili was the gunman of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent Von Rian Tecson.
The police officials had said that last Wednesday, August 8, Balili and two others were sent out on a surveillance on a drug personality in Pinamungajan, a town some 32 kilometers away from Carcar or an hour’s drive away.
Based on Sinas’s account at the press conference, Balili was in the rear passenger seat of a police service vehicle. He had asked for his gun which was with the driver. The driver handed it over to him but then they encountered a hump on the road which caused the driver to pull the trigger accidentally while handing it over to Balili.
Sinas said during Friday’s press conference that people wrongly connected the “accidental firing” in Pinamungajan to the ambush-slay of Tecson in Carcar.
Asked by reporters during Friday’s presscon about Balili’s status, Sinas replied, “Actually, he’s alive, he’s alive. But because of the series of reports na ganito, we are protecting him, di ba? There are bad reports nga di namo siya pwede ipa-kuan, kasi nga security risk, okay?” The press conference was covered on Facebook Live by SunStar Cebu and other media organizations.
Yesterday, PRO 7 spokesperson Supt. Reyman Tolentin, said Balili died of two gunshot wounds on his chest.
Tolentin told reporters yesterday that the wounds proved to be fatal for Balili.
Balili died at 8 p.m. inside a private hospital in Cebu City, he said.
“He was hit twice on his upper extremities, in his chest according to the Regional Special Operations Group,” Tolentin said.
PRO 7 has said that it was not Balili who shot the PDEA agent.
The incident of the accidental firing happened at 11:50 a.m. while Tecson’s ambush-slay happened at past 12 noon on the same say, the PRO 7 said.
“Even the driver (of Tecson) said that the gunman was not Balili. The driver said the gunman was short with a small build,” Tolentin said.
Tolentin added that the 9mm Glock which was fired may have a device attached to make it fire easily and continuously.
“Automatic kung nibuto siya parang ang iya buto masunod-sunod. Siguro pagka-ano sa pusil, na double pagbuto,” Tolentin said.
Chief Insp. Alfredo Kuhay Jr., chief of the Pinamungajan police, said that someone called him on his personal number past 11 a.m. about the sounds of gunshots inside a car in the town.
“Naay nanawag sa akong personal number nag-report nga naa silay nakit-an ug nadunggan nga sakyanan naay buto-buto sa sulod,” Kuhay said.
But, Kuhay said the incident was not placed in the police blotter because the caller forgot to mention the specific area in Pinamungajan.
“The caller didn’t call back. When I also called, he couldn’t be contacted anymore,” he said.
Tolentin said that they are now preparing administrative charges against the team member who accidentally pulled the trigger for negligence.
The spokesperson said that Balili entered the service in the year 2004.
He was awarded with more than nine Medalya ng Kasanayan and Medalya ng Kagalingan, Tolentin said.
He was with the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) of the Cebu Provincial Police Office prior to his assignment in the Rsog.
He was hit twice on his upper extremities, in his chest according to the Regional Special Operations Group.
SUPT. REYMAN TOLENTIN, PRO 7 spokesperson