Osmeña: Cops out to kill councilman
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña believes that the police are out to kill Tejero Barangay Councilman Jessielou Cadungog after Police Regional Office7 director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas admitted that the latter is on the drug list.
Osmeña said the alleged attempt to Cadungog's life last Monday by PO3 Eugene Calumba and police asset Michael Banua was already part of the threat he received less than a month ago. The mayor earlier posted on Facebook the text he received warning him and Cadungog of the supposed plot to kill them.
"Mayor be very careful. You and ex-councilor Cadungog are being targeted for reasons I don't know but some police officials objected and warned if anything happens to you there will be big trouble. The plan was aborted. Be alert your security detail was pulled out to make it easy to carry out and Dumpit is already dead. Beef up your security privately with the people you can trust," reads the text message received by the mayor.
Osmeña said it was very clear from what happened to Cadungog last Monday that Calumba and Banua were really out to ambush the councilman.
"Very clearly, they try to kill him. Clearly. I will not buy the story that he murdered. Accusing of murder? You know what murder is? You're going to work and then you murder someone? How do you murder someone going to work?" the mayor said.
Osmeña slammed the police for filing murder and frustrated murder complaints against Cadungog and his driver William Macaslang. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-7 filed the complaints before the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office last Wednesday.
According to the police investigation, there was no attempt to ambush Cadungog. Sinas said Calumba and his asset came from drug surveillance in Barangay Tejero and were already on their way back to Parian Police Station when they were allegedly fired upon by Cadungog and his driver.
But Osmeña does not believe that the councilman and his driver William Macaslang murdered Calumba. He said the police are making up stories linking Cadungog to illegal drug trade.
"After the attack, they'll say you are in the drug list. Who are they? Mura'g berdugo? I don't even believe that Dumpit (slain cop Adonis Dumpit) is a high-level killer. I refused to believe that. The more I look into it, the more I think he's not because he's poor," the mayor told reporters.
The mayor said he does not believe that Cadungog is involved in illegal drugs.
He said he had known Cadungog and his "rags to riches" story as a labor leader and official of Oriental Port and Allied Services Corporation, the largest workers economic enterprise in the country involved in cargo handling services.
Osmeña said Cadungog has no background of being involved in illegal drugs.
Sinas said that Cadungog was included on the narco list of President Rodrigo Duterte and has been validated by the intelligence community.
According to the police official, he came across the information when they checked Cadungog's background after his name came up as the source of the firearm used by the late SPO1 Adonis Dumpit when Dumpit shot it out with the joint team of police and National Bureau of Investigation operatives in Bohol last June.
"He is included in the watch list both in the PNP and PRRD list, and considered as a drug personality. We checked his background and nahagilap na namo nga information," Sinas said.
STILL SAFE
Sinas said that Cadungog is still safe in Cebu despite what happened.
"Who told you he is not safe? Alam mo pag-paranoid ka na sa imong kaugalingon… He is not the only one naa sa list, in fact, he should clear himself and prove that he is not," Sinas said.
Osmeña said there is a group of people from outside Cebu who are responsible for the series of killings.
"And we already see what's happening here. Even Gabuya (Councilor Eugenio Gabuya, Jr.) was almost shot by mistaken identity. What does that show you? The guy is not from here. That's what I see. He's not from here. There are people operating in Cebu probably with police protection. That's going around killing people," Osmeña said.
Meanwhile, Sinas said Calumba will be conferred with a posthumous award. He also assured that the family of the late policeman will receive all the benefits entitled to him.
The police official said they will also help the widow of Calumba to get a job at the Philippine National Police as non-uniformed personnel. His son will also get a scholarship.—