The body of Senior Insp. Raymond Hortezuela will be buried on June 23, Saturday.
His father Wilfredo said a Mass is set to be held at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City at 1 p.m. before the slain policeman will be laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Gardens in Liloan town, north Cebu.
In an interview, Wilfredo said he still could not believe that the eldest of his three children was gone.
“Mas maayo pa wala ko misugot nga magpulis siya. (I should have not allowed him to become a policeman),” he said.
Hortezuela, 35, was killed in what police operatives said was a shootout following an alleged drug bust in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City past 7 p.m. last Sunday.
Chief Insp. Jewel Nicanor, information officer of the Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF) based in Camp Crame, claimed Hortezuela tried to shoot it out with the operatives, prompting them to fight back.
Hortezuela, who was assigned in the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO), suffered gunshot wounds on the body.
He was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival by a physician.
In an earlier interview, Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said Hortezuela had long been involved in the narcotics trade and served as one of the police protectors of Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, considered as Central Visayas’ top drug lord.
Diaz was gunned down by Cebu City-based police in what police said was an encounter in Las Piñas City on June 17, 2016.
Wilfredo defended Hortezuela, saying the latter was never involved in the illegal drugs trade.
“Nadatu na unta mi kon mao pa na. (We should have been rich already),” he said.
The Commission on Human Rights is conducting an investigation on the death of Hortezuela.