Task force set up to probe officer’s death

CASIBAN

A TASK force was created to investigate the death of PO2 Ryan Casiban of the Cordova police.

“A lot of information are coming in. We will collate everything and discuss them in the auspices of the special task force,” Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy director for operations of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said yesterday.

The task force is headed by Supt. Anthony Bagarinao, deputy director for operations of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), who will be assisted by Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Lawas is the overall supervisor. Lawas said the task force will determine whether or not Casiban committed suicide.

If he was killed, Lawas said they are tasked to identify the perpetrators and the motive behind the killing.

“First, we will find out who killed PO2 Casiban, if indeed he was killed. The other angle we’re pursuing is suicide,” Lawas said.

The Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory was tapped to assist the task force in the investigation.

The Regional Investigation Detection and Management Branch was also asked to look into the alleged participation of retired Generals Marcelo Garbo, Vicente Loot, and PO3 Jonathan Tajanlangit who were reportedly identified by Casiban before his death.

“We want to know what happened before Casiban’s death. Members of the task force are looking for testimonies of witnesses who talked to the policeman before he died,” Lawas said.

Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa instructed PRO-7 to conduct a thorough investigation on Casiban’s death.

Casiban left his post as desk officer of the police precinct in Cordova town, Cebu last Aug. 10, even if his shift had yet to end.

Two days after, his decomposing body was found on a vacant lot near a firing range in Lapu-Lapu City, with a bullet wound in the head.

Investigators were looking into the possibility that Casiban’s death was connected to entries he wrote in the police blotter before he disappeared.

Before he left on a motorcycle, Casiban wrote the blotter entries that accused retired Generals Vicente Loot and Marcelo Garbo of being involved in illegal drugs.

Loot, now mayor of Daanbantayan town, said he didn’t know Casiban even when he was still active in the police service. Garbo could not be reached for comment.