Police Brigadier Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), (left) and Police Colonel Manuel Abrugena, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Drug operations under the Provincial Intelligence Branch-Police Drug Enforcement Unit (PIB-PDEU) for the time being are halted amid the ongoing investigation of the 18 police officers involved in the death of Police Corporal Feliciano Yballe.
Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas director, clarified that police stations in Cebu province could continue their anti-drug operations, but the PIB-PDEU unit’s operations had been halted pending the results of the investigation.
Read more: Sinas: Corporal Yballe died in a misencounter with fellow police officers
Sinas, however, said that relieved officers would not be replaced for now so as not to hamper the deployment of oficers in the province especially since the 2019 midterm elections was already near.
He said that this was their agreement with Police Colonel Manuel Abrugena, Cebu Provincial Police Office chief.
“Di siya (Abrugena) ganahan ma daot ang iya deployment inig May 8… Though it really affects our operation, but we have to do it,” said Sinas.
(Abrugena does not want to adjust the deployment on May 8.)
Sinas has yet to receive results from the paraffin test for the relieved officers, who had undergone the tests on Thursday, May 2.
Ballistic tests are also being conducted on the firearms of the relieved police officers to help in the investigation on the alleged misencounter on May 1, which led to the death of Corporal Yballe.
The alleged misencounter happened after the PIB-PDEU tracker teams were allegedly tracking a suspect in the killing of Police Executive Master Sergeant Junard Cinco, in Barangay Sinsin in Cebu City on May 1 when the alleged misencounter happened.
Cinco was shot dead on April 30 in Toledo City.
The relief of the 18 PIB-PDEU officers will also make way for an impartial investigation of the incident.
“Ako lang sila (relieved officers) gitambagan … we have to abide. Kailangan nato imbestigahan, kay kon dili, luoy pod ang tagtungod,” said Sinas.
(I advised the relieved officers that we have to abide. We need to investigate for the family.)
Read more: Sinas says operatives’ lapses led to ‘misencounter’ that killed cop
Sinas said that there would be a possibility that some of the police officers would be back in their posts soon, except for those woul were directly involved in the shooting incident.
Meanwhile, families of both Yballe and Police Master Sergeant Junard Cinco will receive financial and educational assistance from the Philippine National Police.
On the other hand, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, visited the wake of Yballe on May 3 and he gave a P10,000 cash assistance to the family./dbs