Authorities are looking at several possible motives for the shooting and killing of anti-drug official Baby Earl Rallos.
A recipient of several awards on account of his work as an officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Rallos, 48, was shot dead in Cebu City on Friday, July 27 while he was on his way home.
Chief Insp. Ma. Theresa Macatangay, commander of the Fuente Police Station said the person behind the killing may be someone involved in illegal drugs that Rallos crossed, or someone from law enforcement who became jealous of his accomplishments.
Police however, are zeroing in on the possibility that Rallos himself was involved in illegal drugs since three packs of suspected shabu were found inside his car.
“We were really surprised to learn that packs of shabu were found inside his car. It was in his possession so to speak,” Macatangay said. “And [what] do you call a person who transport illegal drugs? A courier.”
Nevertheless, Macatangay also said that the goal of the police is to solve the mystery of Rallos’ death.
We hope that the solution will come soon. Though the labeling of Rallos as a courier reeks of cynicism — one does not need to be a conspiracy theorist to speculate that the assailant may have planted the drugs in Rallos’ car — that police have committed themselves to solving his case is crucial.
It is the very same commitment that must animate their mission to solve the killings that have been happening almost every day in Cebu, regardless of the status of the victims or the circumstances in which their corpses were found.
The mere presence of drugs near Rallos’ remains does not put sense into his liquidation or reduce the urgency of capturing and lawfully punishing the perpetrator.
Similarly, the urgency of arresting the people behind the killing of Stephen del Corro, 26, and Jamie Mata, 16, whose bodies were dumped in Liloan town, Cebu, as well as of others who have perished in the current spate of violence is not diminished by allegations that they figured in the illegal narcotics trade.
For this reason we continue to demand justice for Blade Skyler Abatayo, 4, killed by a stray bullet during a botched police operation even if Carbon police have accused his father of being a drug personality.
Even if authorities were granted the benefit of the doubt and their positioning of the slain within the drug matrix were true, they would still be derelict in their duty if they slacken in running after killers because neither law nor morality has granted them the authority to give free rein to cold-blooded gunmen and their masterminds.
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