Family defends Carillo, says he was a loving father, devoted public servant

Relatives and friends have started to visit the wake of Police Master Sergeant Deogenes Carillo at his residence in Barangay Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City to pay their respect for the slain policeman. /Delta Dyrecka Letigio

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines –Police Chief Master Sergeant Deogenes Carillo escorted six prisoners early on Thursday morning.

 He told his wife in a text message that he was very tired and was already heading home to rest.

 But he no longer made it to his family alive.

Carillo, the deputy chief of the Cordova Police Station, was killed by a motorcycle tandem while driving his white pickup at the vicinity of the Cordova Central School in Barangay Poblacion at around 10 a.m. on Thursday.  He was on his way home to Barangay Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City.

Read More: Acting deputy chief of Cordova Police ambushed

Despite accusations on his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade, Police Chief Master Sergeant Deogenes Carillo was still allowed to wear his police uniform during his wake while a Philippine flag was placed on top of his casket.

Carillo will be buried on Saturday, June 29, at the Mactan Island Memorial Gardens.

The wife and two children that he left behind wanted to remember Carillo as a loving father and devoted public servant who dedicated his life to government service.

While they refused a sit down interview with CDN Digital saying they wanted to mourn in private, one of Carillo’s children said that they continue to pray for justice for her father’s death while they also await for the outcome of the police investigation on his killing.

Read More: Sinas: Cordova deputy chief’s killing could be related to drugs, money lending business

Police Brigadier Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that the ongoing investigation on Carillo’s death now focuses on his alleged involvement with illegal drugs syndicates and enemies that he may have made from his money lending business.

But for Carillo’s daughter, who refused to be named, her father was “a good man” who will never do anything illegal.

She said that Carillo was even an avid support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drugs war. /dcb