‘LET THE TRUTH COME OUT’

Church says probers must not wait until kill toll reaches 10K 

Life, even if it belongs to bad elements, is equally sacred.”

So said the spokesman of the Roman Catholic Church in Cebu as he called on groups initiating investigations on reported extrajudicial killings to continue with efforts to uncover the truth behind the rising number of dead criminals in the region.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu, told reporters in an interview that probers should share their resources to determine the real cause of these killings and the people behind them.

“I personally subscribe to that idea that we have to have answers to the question: kinsa man ang hinungdan aning mga nangamatay nga nikuyanap og kalit? (who is responsible for these killings that suddenly became so rampant)?” Msgr. Tan said.

“Dili nato huwaton nga moabot pa ni siya og 10 mil ang insidente (Let us not wait for these incidents to reach 10,000),” he added.

Police records show that from July 1 to August 23 this year, 67 drug suspects were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Visayas, with almost half that number or 31 suspects killed in Cebu City.

This was followed by Cebu province with 15 cases, Bohol with eight, Lapu-Lapu City with seven, and Mandaue City with six.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), ordered police station chiefs to look into the killings involving unidentified armed men in their areas while he still has to conclude whether or not vigilantes are operating in the region.

The Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) is conducting a probe on cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the region.

For his part, Msgr. Tan cautioned that if the purpose of eradicating drugs is for the good of society, it must be ensured that “it is something that is also ethically acceptable.”

“Kahibaw ko nga sayon kaayo sa kadaghanan moingon nga nganong mobati man ta anang mga gipamatay nga kriminal nga mga bati man na sila nga elemento sa katilingban (I know that it’s easy for everyone to say why do we feel empathy for those criminals that were killed when they are bad elements of society),” Tan said.

“I’m sure it’s a common temptation nga mosulti ta ana (to say that), but we must remember that life, even if it belongs to the bad elements in society, is equally sacred,” the Cebu Archdiocesan spokesman added.

“We are not saying this because we are more compassionate to the criminals than to the victims. What we want is to avoid further complications since we always say that it’s a principle that we all subscribe to: the end will not justify the means,” Tan said.

Tan, however, recognized the efforts of PRO-7 in lowering the crime rate, citing that this happened since the illegal drug issue was addressed for the first time.

PRO-7 reported that the total crime volume in Central Visayas for July went down by 9.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Tan hoped that with the ongoing Senate investigation on reported extrajudicial killings, the truth would come out.

“We always subscribe that on the side of the government, it is still operating under the rule of law, relying that the President himself is a lawyer and a man of court and a good one at that. We trust in his capacity,” he said.

“Let us not complicate the situation by making conspiracy theories. We have to be sober with our judgment until the truth will come out,” added Tan.

More deaths

As this developed, another drug suspect and a still unidentified man were killed by unknown assailants in Cebu City.

Allan Taves, 52, was sleeping inside his room in Barangay Calamba at past 11 p.m. Monday when an assailant went inside his house and riddled him with bullets.

Taves, who was on the drugs list of the police, suffered gunshot wounds on his left thigh, right leg, and left forearm. He was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) but died at the hospital due to blood loss.

In another case, a farmer in the mountains of Barangay Tabunan, Cebu City alerted policemen about a decomposing body of a man whose hands and legs were tied with a packaging tape.

In Daanbantayan, northern Cebu, a drug suspect who was reportedly top 3 in the town’s most wanted list was gunned down during a police buy-bust operation in Barangay Maya.

PO3 Alfredo Mandal of the Daanbantayan police station claimed that Ramil Bentolan pulled out his gun when he sensed that a police poseur buyer was transacting business with him.

A .38 caliber revolver and P6 thousand worth of suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) were recovered from Bentolan who, according to police, surrendered last July during the government’s Oplan Tokhang only to return to selling illegal drugs soon after.

In Naga City, southern Cebu, another drug suspect was killed by four unidentified men around 10 p.m. last Monday at Sitio Bayabas Inuburan.

PO2 Jonathan Largo of the Naga City police said that 30-year-old Axel Barinque, a former Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who had worked as a plumber in Naga, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in his body after four unidentified armed men rained bullets at him as he was about to take a bath inside his house.

Police said that although Barinque was not in their watch list, there were reports that he maintained a drug den.

Meanwhile, in Sitio Rattan, Barangay Tangke, Talisay City, almost half a million pesos’ worth of illegal drugs was confiscated in two separate police operations at dawn yesterday.

Talisay City police chief, Supt. Aileen Recla, who led the buy-bust operation, said that suspects Reynaldo Racasa and Clifford Serenobis were arrested while another suspect identified as Noel Macaraya eluded arrest.

Recovered from Racasa were four large packs of shabu while two packs of the prohibited drug were also recovered from Serenobis who was found hiding in a pig pen during the buy-bust operation. The drugs were valued at P290 thousand.

About 50 meters from the house of Macaraya, police also confiscated P202 thousand worth of illegal drugs from Narcil Huybia, allegedly one of Talisay City’s top 10 drug personalities.

In Danao City, northern Cebu, police arrested live-in partners Medel Formentera and Eva Lopez during a buy-bust operation.

And finally, in San Francisco, Camotes Islands, police confiscated P80 thousand worth of illegal drugs from a drug suspect identified as Aquino Delfin Plenos.