CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Mambaling police were now investigating if the attempt into the life of a policeman and his niece last Thursday was work-related.
Police Master Sergeant Nicolo Gonzales, investigator of the case, said Police Patrolman Percival Eborlas, who is currently stationed in Bayawan City in Negros Oriental, was formerly assigned at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Intelligence Branch and this might have something to do with the attempt to kill him.
Eborlas was repeatedly shot while outside his home along Cabreros Street, Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City past 9 p.m. on December 26, 2019. Also wounded in the same incident was his nine-year-old niece.
Gonzales said Eborlas has most likely made a lot of enemies because of the nature of his work as an intelligence operative.
“Di gyud malikayan ng trabaho sa police naa gyuy masuko kay kaning manakop ta,” said Gonzales.
(It can’t be helped that there will be people who will get mad at policemen, especially when we arrest people.)
Gonzales however stressed that their information still needed to be verified.
According to Gonzales, they were having a hard time gathering witnesses during the incident or the background of the victim because even his family members were hesitant to talk to the police.
He revealed that up to this time, they were yet to have a proper conversation with the family, who never told the police which hospital Eborlas was brought together with his 9-year-old niece.
Gonzales said that based on the initial narration of the incident that was told by the father-in-law of Eborlas, the policeman went out to smoke past 9 p.m. and was engaged in a conversation with his neighbors shortly before he was shot and wounded.
The father-in-law reportedly said he had notice a gray van passing through their house several times but he did not mind it since there were also other vehicles that were passing through the area.
However, when Eborlas was left alone after conversing the neighbor, a man alighted from the van and proceeded to shoot Eborlas. This was also at about this time when when the niece of Eborlas came out and was hit by stray bullets.
Read more: Police officer, niece shot outside Cebu City home
Gonzales said Eborlas and his niece were already brought o the hospital when the police arrived, leaving only the eight empty shells of a possibly .45 caliber pistol at the scene.
Gonzales said they were now checking if a closed-circuit television (CCTV) in the area was able to capture the shooting incident in order to help them in solving the case./elb