AMID the spate of killings in Cebu, Bureau of Corrections Chief, Retired General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, called on Cebuanos not to throw “sweeping accusations that policemen are behind those killings.”
Dela Rosa cited his experience in Manila that convinced him that most crimes had been committed by organized crime groups especially drug syndicates although he admitted that the police still had some scalawags who might had been involved in the killings.
“Moamin ko nga naay uban ana binuhat sa mga police nga abusado, labi na ‘tong police nga naay involvement sa drugas nga di gusto nga itug-an ilang aktibidades, so ilang ihawon tong naa sa ilalom. Pero kasagaran ana binuhatan sa mga sindikato,” Dela Rosa told Cebu Daily News during his visit to Naga City on Sunday.
(I admit that some of the killings are committed by abusive cops, especially those involved in the drug trade who do not want their activities to be found out, hence, they kill the underlings. But most of the killings are done by syndicates.)
The former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said the assassins commissioned by the drug syndicates to silence their competition in the drug trade might have also resorted to disguising themselves as policemen to put the blame for the deaths on the state forces.
On Thursday, five persons were killed in what is believed to be a summary execution attempt but two persons emerged, who claimed to be survivors of the assassination.
Sharmaine Puran and habal-habal (motorcycle- for-hire) driver Antonio Belande both claimed that they were picked up by men in police uniforms in front of an establishment in Barangay Guadalupe and brought to the mountain barangay of Malubog in Cebu City where their other five companions succumbed to the bullets which peppered the vehicle where they were boarded.
Puran earlier admitted that she was accompanying a friend who was supposed to have a drug transaction at the area.
“Naay daghan magpapulis-pulis uy or kanang mosakay sa kampanya sa war on drugs,” said Dela Rosa.
(There are a lot who disguise themselves as policemen or those who are just using the war on drugs campaign.)