Who is telling the truth?
As police and the National Bureau of Investigation have started launching separate investigations, who is really telling the truth in the drama surrounding the alleged attempt on the life of former Tejero, Cebu City, barangay captain and now councilman Jessielou Cadungog last Monday?
Cadungog claimed he was indeed the subject of an assassination attempt since he has been receiving death threats. For him, the policeman shot dead by his driver was on a mission to liquidate him. But for the Police Regional Office-7, Police Officer 2 Eugene Alain Calumba was just doing surveillance work in Barangay Tejero when he was mistaken as an assassin.
Calumba, on board a motorcycle, was shot and killed by Cadungog’s driver when he was allegedly about to pull out his firearm beside Cadungog’s vehicle. His companion, Michael Banua, the motorcycle driver, was arrested following a brief chase.
As both camps now prepare legal actions against each other, it’s not really clear as to who is really telling the truth. The police have held their ground that no foiled assassination took place while Cadungog claimed there was really an attempt on his life.
We cannot blame Cadungog, who was not in his car during the incident, for insisting he was really the target of Calumba and Banua. The councilman, who is also a labor leader, claimed he has changed his routine after receiving threatening messages last month. But has Cadungog reported the death threats to the police? This is something the public wants to know.
For Calumba and Banua, it seems their presence in Barangay Tejero was legitimate as declared by PRO-7 Director Debold Sinas. But it’s quite unsettling why the two were doing monitoring in Tejero when the barangay is under the jurisdiction of the Waterfront Police Station and not the Parian Police Station, where Calumba is assigned.
As the public awaits the real score on the Tejero incident, the authorities should have a lot of explaining to do as to why the police have long been suspected of having a hand in the series of killings in Cebu.