TRAGIC TWIST
CEBU CITY—The controversial case involving 11 policemen and a 35-yearold woman had taken a tragic twist after one of the suspects allegedly committed suicide just a few hours after the complainant was gunned down on Monday night.
CEBU CITY—The controversial case involving 11 policemen and a 35-year-old woman had taken a tragic twist after one of the suspects allegedly committed suicide just a few hours after the complainant was gunned down on Monday night.
Ritchie Nepomuceno was fatally shot shortly after she disembarked from a policeowned vehicle in Barangay Basak-Pardo.
About three hours later, Police Staff Sgt. Celso Colita, the policeman who was accused of raping her twice, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in a comfort room of one of the offices of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas Headquarters.
Nepomuceno had filed several charges against Colita, Police Chief Master Sgt. Eric Edgar Emia, Police Cpl. Rochelito Mabulay, Police Cpl. Emmanuel Martinez, Police Staff Sgt. Joseph Alcoseba, Police Staff Sgt. Michael Rhey Cabizares, Police Cpl. Carlo Irizari, Police Cpl. Junel Pedroza, Police Cpl. John Carl Aceron, and Police Cpl. Georny Abrasado.
The string of charges stemmed from the March 9 incident wherein the 11 policemen searched the house of Nepomuceno in Barangay Tung kil, Minglanilla town, southern.
The woman was accused of keeping illegal drugs and unlicensed firearms in her house but no contraband was found during the search.
A er her house was inspected, the woman alleged that she was brought to the Sawang Calero Station but the supposed police operation was not recorded in the police blotter.
The woman alleged that the 11 policemen took ₱170,000 from her and before she was allowed to go home, she was raped twice in a motel by Colita.
The 11 policemen had been disarmed and placed under camp restriction of the Regional Headquarters Support Unit.
The alleged abuses by the policemen were exposed when Nepomuceno sought help from the Integrity Monitoring and Enhancement Group-Visayas Field Unit (IMEG-VFU).
With the help of IMEG-VFU, grave coercion, robbery and grave threats were filed against the 11 police. Two counts of rape were also filed against Colita.
HOSPITAL APPOINTMENT
Police Maj. Alejandro Batobalonos, chief of the IMEGVFU, said the woman was with IMEG-VFU members just hours a er she was killed.
Batobalonos said IMEG-VFU personnel brought Nepomuceno to the pink room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for her scheduled examination.
“She was brought there at 8:30 a.m. and her appointment was done by around 5 p.m.,” said Batobalonos.
Batobalonos said IMEG personnel brought the woman home a er her appointment at the hospital.
“She was standing by the road when she was shot. It seemed like the perpetrators had been monitoring her from the hospital until she was brought home. The perpetrators appeared to have just waited for the police escort to leave before they killed her,” Batobalonos said.
It was learned that the woman had transferred from Minglanilla to Basak-Pardo a er the March 9 incident.
“We really didn’t know the exact location of her apartment in Basak-Pardo because she would just direct us to an area where we can pick her up if we need her for some paperworks in relation to the cases that she filed,” said Batobalonos.
‘NO FOUL PLAY’
A few hours a er Nepomuceno was killed, the PRO 7 was rocked by Colita’s alleged suicide.
The police took his own life by shooting himself in the head using a .45-caliber pistol, said Police Maj. Glenn Hife, chief of the Regional Drug Enforcement Group.
Hife said there was no foul play involved in Colita’s death.
Ealier, Hife said Colita was instructed to go to his office where they discussed the cases that Nepomuceno had filed against him.
“I talked to Colita and the 10 other policemen one by one as part of the internal investigation,” Hife said.
Hife said during the course of their conversation, he asked Colita if he already knew that Nepomuceno had been gunned down.
“I observed that he was okay. We were laughing at one point. But he seemed shocked when I asked him if he already knew that the complainant had been ambushed,” said Hife.
“I asked him if he was involved or he had knowledge of the killing. He didn’t answer. He just bowed his head and dropped his shoulders,” said Hife.
Hife narrated that he reminded Colita that the death of Nepomuceno would not exonerate him from charges if ever he was involved in the killing.
“I told him that even with the death of Nepomuceno, the complaints against him were something that he had to face,” Hife said in Cebuano.
In the middle of their conversation, Colita asked Hife if he can go to the toilet for a while.
Hife said gunshot rang out shortly after Colita entered the toilet.
Hife rushed to the toilet and saw Colita sprawled on the floor with a gunshot wound in the right side of the temple.
Colita was rushed to nearby hospital where she was declared dead.
EXTRA FIREARM
Hife said he noticed that Colita’s shirt was not inserted and it looked like he was covering something in his waist when he arrived in his office.,
Hife said it was not known immediately why Colita had a gun when he and the 10 other policemen involved in the case had been disarmed.
The 11 policemen were also not allowed to leave the camp where checking of attendance is done every hour, Hife said.
“As a policeman, we don’t settle for our service firearm. We have this extra firearm and it was possible that he was keeping one in the barracks,” said Hife.
Colita’s wife immediately went to the PRO 7 Headquarters after learning about her husband’s death.
Hife said the wife shared that her husband had been depressed due to the accusations hurled against him.
“He was affected by the case according to the wife. I also asked forgiveness from his wife since the incident happened in my office,” said Hife.