A wooden cross and a vehicle with bullet holes were seen on the road where PO2 Lord Romyth Cañada (inset) was gunned down in Barangay Calajo-an, Minglanilla.
CAÑADA SLAY PROBE
Footage from a closed-circuit television camera located near the area where PO2 Lord Romyth Cañada was shot dead, shows a dark blue car, which police suspect could be the vehicle used by his assailants.
CDN is withholding the plate number of the car until its owner is identified.
The CCTV camera belongs to Barangay Calajo-an, Minglanilla town.
The CCTV operator who requested anonymity said the blue car passed twice at the crime scene, near an auto-repair shop where the slain police and his brother -in-law Ken Echaves had just come out from.
The second time it passed, the car could be barely seen in the footage.
It stopped for a few seconds before moving towards the camera.
Footage recorded at 10:59 a.m. of November 14 clearly showed the blue car stopping as two men came running towards it and entered the vehicle from both sides of the passenger seats before speeding away.
Minglanilla Police Station Commander, Chief Insp. Verniño Noserale said they are now coordinating with the Land Transportation Office to determine who the car is registered to.
Witnesses near the auto repair shop where the shooting happened had earlier said the assailant, wearing a mask, alighted from a blue car, shot Cañada several times then returned to the car and fled.
Noserale however said they have not yet identified Cañada’s assailants. He said the CCTV footage would help them identify the suspects.
Mystery
Noserales said they are still trying to determine the motive behind the killing of Cañada, saying it still remains a mystery.
“Among gitan-aw ang mga kaso nga gipang-handle ni PO2 Lord nga possibleng mahimong rason sa pagpatay sa iyaha. Mao kini among gi-una og tan-aw. (We are looking into the big cases PO2 Lord handled which could be the reason for his death. This is our primary angle),” said Noserale.
Noserale said Cañada had killed an armed man who was allegedly involved in drugs during a police operation back in 2016.
He said that they are still digging the case files for the details.
He said, records of the Minglanilla Police Station showed that this was the first and last time that Cañada killed a suspect during an operation and Cañada’s death may have been a case of vengeance.
Chief Inspector Dexter Calacar, the former Minglanilla chief who is now assigned in Lapu-Lapu City, said that during his stint in Minglanilla, Cañada reported to him about death threats following the shooting incident.
“Niduol man siya nako sa una nga naa kunoy mga threats human niya napusil tong armado og KG9. (He came to me to report on death threats after he shot the armed man carrying a KG9 submachine pistol),” Calacar told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
Calacar said that Cañada no longer responded to any shooting alarms after the incident as he re-assigned Cañada as the main traffic investigator for Minglanilla in late 2016.
‘Drug protector?’
An anonymous source, who claimed to have known Cañada during his assignment in Minglanilla, told Cebu Daily News that the death of Cañada was due to his alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade.
Calacar admitted that while he was Minglanilla police chief, he had confronted Cañada about his alleged involvement with illegal drugs.
“Ako na siya giduol sa una tungod lagi aning dungog-dungog nga nalambigit siya sa droga. Apan iya man gi-explain nga tungod kay lumad siya, amigo niya ang ubang pushers. (I confronted him about the rumors of his involvement in drugs. However, he explained that because he was from Minglanilla, he was friends with some of the pushers),” said Calacar.
Calacar said that despite the rumors that Cañada was a drug protector, he remembered that the police officer was one of those who constantly provided intelligence to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on the illegal drug activities in the Minglanilla.
“I don’t think he was a involved in any way with drugs. Naa lang gyod siyay amigo nga pushers kay dugay na baya siya nagpuyo didto. (He just had friends who were drug pushers because he lived in Minglanilla for a long time),” said Calacar.
Noserales on the other hand said that they do not discount the possibility that Cañada was involved in illegal drugs and they would investigate the rumors circulating in Barangay Tuyan where Cañada came from.
Suspension
Supt. Janette Rafter, information officer of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), said Cañada was suspended in 2017 for failing to undergo a surprise drug test mandated by CPPO in 2016.
Cañada’s mother said her son was sick with diabetes during that time and was too weak to go to the CCPO headquarters to undergo the drug test.
“He served his penalty of 31 days on August 2017 and then he was moved to the RPHAU (Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit) of the Regional Office,” said Rafter.
Former Minglanilla police chief, Chief Inspector Florendo Fajardo, admitted that Cañada was in fact unable to attend a CPPO-mandated gathering which caused him to be charged administratively.
Fajardo, who is now chief of the Bantayan Police Station, said Cañada was not trying to avoid the drug test but was simply unable to attend an event which was followed by a surprise drug test.
Rafter admitted that CPPO has not received reports about Cañada’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs but she said they will ask the Minglanilla Police to do a background check.
“We told the Minglanilla police to finish the investigation as soon as possible,” said Rafter.
Wake
Cebu Daily News went to the wake of Cañada and was told by the family that high-ranking police officials had already visited the late police officer.
Flowers from Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General, Oscar Albayalde, and Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) Director, Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, were placed beside Cañada’s coffin.
His mother said the family would no longer run after those who killed her son as they understood that the possibility of getting killed was part and parcel of the job.
Noserales said that Cañada will be given burial honors and his family will receive the benefits given to families of slain police officers.