In Cebu, killings continue relentlessly

IN my October 8 column I wrote that 12 Cebuanos were felled by bullets in Metro Cebu on October young Cebu City residents whose lifeless bodies were found in Brgy. Malubog, Cebu City, a total of nine men were shot dead by the police in Talisay City and Cebu City in connection with the Philippine National Police’s “One Time, Big Time” (OTBT) operations against criminality and illegal drugs.

The Commission on Human Rights Central Visayas now has Sharmaine Poran, one of the two survivors of the Malubog incident, in its custody. Poran’s claim that police operatives were behind the abduction and salvaging of the

explanation, absent evidence supporting other angles.

Violent crime didn’t stop with

persons were shot to death in separate incidents in Cebu province in the days following until October 12 when a policeman and his two companions were killed in an ambush in Talisay City. A woman scavenger was killed by stray bullets.

Mistaken identity, cried the family of slain PO3 Micahel Santinno Cortes. A “PO2 Michael Cortez” had appeared in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of drug personalities more than two years ago. A GMA report from August 8, 2016 lists “PO3 Michael Santino Cortes” as having “surrendered” and reported to Camp Crame. His family said that he was able to clear his name though Cortes was reassigned from Barili, Cebu, to Jolo, Sulu. A resident of Talisay City, the policeman had just returned from a court hearing in Barili when he and his companions were attacked.

“We don’t want to blame the police for my brother’s death but we don’t also have trust in them,” Cortes’ sister told the Cebu media ( October 13).

- mer chairman of Brgy. Cubacub, Mandaue City, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men. He was riding a dump truck with his barangay chairman on their way to the police in connection with the October 8 murder of Paulino Vega, a tanod of the same barangay. Vega had just

the local school and was walking along the street, when he was shot from behind by a motorcycle-riding gunman. The gunman then came down from the motorcycle, walked over to Vega who was lying on the

a bullet to his head.

The murders of Bihag and Vega, it appears, are not connected to drugs but to the September 16 killing of Mark Lester Castillo and Renan Mabida in Brgy. Cubacub. Castillo had been chief of security of Ozamis City Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog while Mabida had been a team member. The two men and their wives had reportedly taken up residence in Cubacub since March and were in the process of buying a lot in the barangay, maybe to build new homes. The police, on the other hand, believe that Castillo and Mabida were part of a regrouped Parojinog crime syndicate. Interest

- band were recovered from the crime scene. The victims were unarmed.

Councilor Bihag and Tanod Vega had had drinking sessions with Castillo and Mabida. The Mandaue police speculate that relatives or associates of Castillo and Mabida may have suspected that Bihag and Vega had betrayed the two Ozamis City natives and subsequently had them (Bihag and Vega) killed as a form of revenge ( October 12).

By a strange coincidence, Vega was killed at about the same time

Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Ozamis City was shot dead by four motorcycle- riding men on his way home. Pintac had handled cases involving the Paronijogs and the Ozamis Citybased “Dragon” crime group.

Incidentally, the Lapu Lapu City police on October 3 had killed alleged Dragon member Crisolito Unito in Brgy. Bankal, Lapu Lapu City, when he reportedly resisted arrest. Unito was in the top 6 most wanted persons of

was wanted for murder and robbery, among others (

Whether or not criminals from Ozamis City have relocated to Cebu and may or may not be involved in drugs, killings or other crimes here, the police have a sworn duty to solve these crimes and solve them convincingly. Violent crime has reached an unprecedented high in Cebu, the inevitable conclusion being that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is failing to both protect the public and to bring killers to justice.

A Senate investigation into the killings, as suggested by some minority senators, is unlikely to put an end to the killing spree. Neither is it likely to motivate the police to solve the long and growing list of unsolved killings. Life in Cebu, the cradle of Christianity in the Philippines, is no longer sacred.