The former policeman who was killed in a shootout in a resort Sunday morning was on top of the target list of the Bohol Provincial Police Office, a regional police official said yesterday.
Supt. Paul Labra II, head of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID), said Owen Rosales was the leader of a drug group that can dispose of more than a kilo of shabu a week.
His group was tagged in the ambush-slaying of Chief Insp. George Caña, chief of police of Ubay town, Saturday evening.
Caña was reportedly aggressive in the campaign against illegal drugs and had received death threats a few days before the attack.
Caña, 47, was on his way home when he was attacked in barangay Balintawak, Talibon town
Labra also said that Rosales and his men were also responsible for the death of SPO1 Noel Romagos in April this year. Romagos was the officer-in-charge of the Danao Municipal Police Office and was shot dead by two men onboard a motorcycle outside his cousin’s house in barangay Sta. Fe also in Danao town.
Rosales joined the police service in 2008 with the rank of Police Officer 1. He was declared absent without official leave (AWOL) in 2010 and was eventually dismissed from the service in 2011.
Rosales was among those killed in a follow up operation conducted by the Bien Unido Municipal Police Office, the Provincial Special Weapons and Tactics and the Provincial Intelligence Branch past 9 a.m. Sunday at Playa Beach Resort, barangay San Pedro, Bien Unido town.
They tried to convince Rosales and his men to surrender, but they allegedly opted to fight it out.
Rosales and five of his companions, including 17-year-old Amy Camero of barangay Bulacao, Talisay City, lay dead after the smoke from the gunfire cleared. Amy’s brother, Joseph Camero, admitted that his sister was always out with her friends, but her death shocked them.
Joseph said they might ask the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the case considering that Amy was a minor. Their father, Peter, also wants justice for the death of his daughter. He wants her body to be brought to Cebu so they can give her a decent burial.
Gov. Hilario Davide, the new head of the Regional Peace and Order Council, said the council will tackle Caña’s death and other attacks against law enforcers during the meeting on June 23. It will be the first time that he will preside the RPOC. /with UP Tacloban Intern Le-an Lai Lacaba