P100T to charity, P55T to cops
P100T to charity, P55T to cops
It’s not reward, says incoming Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, but his way of showing to police force that he supports them in what they do
THE policemen who killed a man they said was a bigtime drug pusher and two of his cohorts in Getafe, Bohol are donating two-thirds of their reward money to a charity group that helps children with cancer.
Yesterday afternoon, officials of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operation Task Group (Raidsotg) 7 received the P155,000 cash from Osmeña in his house in Guadalupe, Cebu City five days after they shot Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria last Saturday to death.
Osmeña gave P155,000 to the group since there were three suspected drug personalities who were killed during the shootout. The P5,000 is their reward for wounding another cohort of Secretaria.
Shortly after winning in the May 9 elections, the incoming mayor promised to give P50,000 to police officers for every illegal drug trader they kill in a legal operation.
Osmeña’s term as mayor starts on June 30 yet but it was already the third time that he gave a cash reward to the police.
He doesn’t want it called a reward. He said it’s his way of helping the police who get in trouble for doing their job.
Charity/Cops
Senior Inspector Henrix Bancoleta, chief of the investigation division of Raidsotg 7, said P100,000 will go to the charity
of their choice, which will help children with cancer.
The remaining P55,000, he said, will be shared equally by the three units that carried out the operation and will be used to buy gear to use in their operations.
“We agreed to give the P100,000 to a charity. The reward was not about the money. It’s the thought the mayor, as a leader, supports our campaign against illegal drugs. For us, that carries more weight than the cash reward,” Bancoleta said.
Raidsotg 7, the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) and the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 7 raided Banacon Island in Getafe, Bohol last Saturday and killed Secretaria and two others in a shootout.
With or without the reward, Bancoleta said, they will continue to do their job and stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in Central Visayas.
Motivation
Because of the sup- port of Osmeña, Bancoleta said, the police force will be motivated to intensify their operations.
As to criticisms that the police only stepped up on their anti-illegal drugs operation when the reward system was revived by Osmeña, Bancoleta said they are not after the money even if they need it.
For his part, Osmeña said he doesn’t want the money to be called a reward.
“Don’t call it as a reward, to some it’s a reward, to some it’s not. As what you can see, what’s happening today is that everybody wants it investigated. That’s what the money is for, so that they (police) can defend themselves,” he told reporters.
Osmeña was referring to the investigation of the Commission on Human Rights, which wants to know if the shooting in Banacon was a rubout or a shootout.
He said he wants the police to feel that he will defend them if they face any investigation for doing their job.
“Tommy Osmeña will defend you, that what’s I’m saying. Some people look at it as a reward, I’d like the criminals to think that it’s a reward, I want them to think that we’re hunting them down. I don’t look at it as a reward. It’s just a consequence if you get yourself in trouble,” he said.
CHR, autopsy
In a related development, a forensic team from the CHR central office in Manila will arrive in Cebu next week to conduct an autopsy on one of the fatalities in the Banacon incident.
Leo Villarino, CHR 7 chief investigator, said the team will perform the autopsy on John Jason Montes.
The order for an autopsy came after Montes’s parents gave their consent.
Villarino said an autopsy will determine if there was an overkill.
Montes, who was from Barangay Ermita in Cebu City, and Dario Torremocia were the alleged cohorts of Secretaria in his alleged drug business.
Villarino said Montes’s mother also provided them with his son’s death certificate.
Based on the death certificate, the 22-year-old reportedly died due to cardiorespiratory arrest from blood loss attributed to multiple gunshot wounds.