Calumba: Husband, father, bemedalled cop

Rosemarie Calumba and her son JR, view the body of PO3 Eugene Calumba at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Lahug. Calumba’s remains will be transported to Dumaguete today.
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

THEY dined together, watched a movie and just drove around the city over the weekend.

It turned out to be their last date.

“Wala gyud ko magtuo nga mao na diay to ang among katapusang panag-uban (I could not believe that that was the last time we were together),” said Rosemarie Calumba, 36, and wife of PO3 Eugene Alcain Calumba, who was gunned down on Monday by the bodyguard of a barangay councilor following an alleged foiled ambush on the official.

Rosemarie, in an interview, said Eugene brought her to the pier early Monday where she took a boat to Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental en route to Zamboanguita town where the family lived.

Just an hour after she arrived home, Rosemarie got a phone call from Chief Insp. Kenneth Paul Albotra, commander of the Parian Police Station where her husband was assigned.

She broke down after she was told that her husband had been killed.

Rosemarie asked authorities to immediately act on the case so that justice should be served.

“They (assailant) got the father of my son,” she said.

Rosemarie and Eugene were married in 2012, three years after going steady. The union was blessed with a 6-year-old son.

Eugene, 33, arrived in Cebu City in March after he was assigned at the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Parian Police Station.

Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Central Visayas police, said Eugene was conducting surveillance operations on Monday in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City, when he was shot by the bodyguard of Jessielou Cadungog, Tejero barangay councilor, past 8 a.m.

He suffered a gunshot wound on his chest.

Cadungog’s bodyguard, however, claimed that one of the two men on board a motorcycle drove along side the vehicle, pulled out a gun and aimed at the driver’s side, forcing him to shoot first.

The man, whose face was covered with a handkerchief and a helmet, turned out to be Eugene.

Eugene’s companion, Michael Banua, who drove the motorcycle, was collared by the barangay tanods in Tejero.

Both Eugene and Banua have barcode tattoos on their left wrists which many people believed were marks of the vigilantes.

Rosemarie denied the accusations.

“That tattoo is just a form of art,” she said.

Eugene’s body lies in state at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

It would be transported on Wednesday to Dumaguete City where he would be buried. Details of the burial had yet to be announced by the family.

Among those who sent flowers were President Duterte and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.

The flag at Camp Sergio Osmeña, headquarters of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), was flown half-staff to mourn and show respect for Eugene.

Sinas said Eugene would receive full police honors during his burial while his family would get financial assistance.

Based on the data from the PRO-7, Eugene had a good record.

Since 2013, Calumba received six awards: Medalya ng Paglilingkod in the Visayas, Medalya ng Kagalingan, Medalya ng Pagtulong sa Nasalanta, and three Medalya ng Papuri.

Supt. Raymond Tolentin, spokesperson of the PRO-7, vouched for Eugene’s integrity.

“He is one of us. We are all mourning for the death of our comrade,” he said.

Albotra also stressed that Eugene was never involved in any illegal activities.

“He was the battalion commander of his batch. He was an exemplary police officer,” he said.