Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), has denied any police involvement in the killing of five persons in the mountain barangay of Malubog, Cebu City on Thursday (October 4).
In a press conference, Sinas said that police were busy in the implementation of the ‘One Time Big Time’ operation, which also claimed the lives of nine persons during the simultaneous operations in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, and Lapu-Lapu.
Seven persons were arrested in Mandaue City during the implementation of the same operation.
Sinas blamed reporters for insinuating that police were behind the Malubog killings. He said that the witnesses whom he visited at a hospital were not even scared of the police. He even provided them with police escorts.
In a separate interview, Senior Supt. Royina Garma, director of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) said they are still investigating the Malubog incident. Garma, however, refused to comment on claims of two witnesses.
Two survivors of the Malubog incident claimed that they were brought to the area before policemen started to fire shots at them.
Antonio Belande, one of the survivors, said he survived after he rolled downhill and hid behind bushes. Another woman survivor claimed that personnel from Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) were the ones who killed her companions.