Police Colonel Roderick Mariano
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Policemen in Cebu province are hunting down the men who ambushed three cops who were doing surveillance operation in a marijuana plantation in Toledo City, Monday night.
Police Colonel Roderick Mariano, director of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO), said that they are now trying to locate the suspects to ensure their arrest and the filing of appropriate charges against them.
Mariano suspects that the ambush was the doing to two or more men, who may also be working as marijuana cultivators.
The suspects rained bullets at three cops who were conducting surveillance operation of a marijuana plantation in Barangay Pangamihan in Toledo City in midwestern Cebu at around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 27, 2020.
One of the policemen, Police Master Sergeant Douglas Maravillas, took a bullet on his chest and is now recuperating in a private hospital in Cebu City.
Mariano said that Maravillas and his two companions are with the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company (1st PMFC). They went into Barangay Pangamihan to verify reports on the presence of a marjuana plantation in the hinterland barangay.
“I have the reason to believe na karamihan sa mga bahay dun (that majority of the residents in the area) , I think alam nila lahat yung plantation dun (knows of the presence of a marijuana plantation in their place),” said Mariano.
Following the attack on his men, Mariano said that they are now considering the possibility of conducting major police operations in the area to especially go after marijuana cultivators.
In a separate interview, Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of Police Regional Office in Central (PRO-7), is reminding policemen to always give priority to their safety when conducting intelligence monitoring.
“Physical security, operational security, should be the top priority of any operating unit… We should be very much cautious with our police operations,” Ferro said. / dcb