Organized crime group ‘behind’ Malubog killings

An organized crime group may have had a hand in the shooting to death of five men in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City last Thursday.

Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director, said the killings were done in a systematic manner.

The investigation, he said, will determine the identities of the culprits and their connections.

Sinas said motorcycle-for-hire driver Antonio Belande, one of the two survivors, is willing to go with the investigators for a reenactment of his abduction in Banawa and escape in Malubog.

“Motabang daw siya sa pag-imbestiga (He will help in the investigation),” he said.

The other survivor, Sharmaine Poran, told the Commission on Human Rights 7 investigators that police officers abducted her and brought her to Malubog. Sinas denied police were involved in the carnage.

Poran was taken to a sanctuary under the Archdiocese of Cebu for protection pending the filing of cases against the culprits.

Sinas said the investigators will no longer reach out to Poran.

“Di man siya ganahan sa amoa. Okay lang (She doesn’t want us, so that’s okay),” he said.

The fatalities were identified as Leyster Abella, Carl Cabahug, Rolando Tayor, Diorvan Sarijorjo and Christopher Tangag.