The white Toyota pickup truck of the STL Partylist sits idle at the intersection of Pope John Paul II avenue and F. Cabahug Street in Barangay Mabolo shortly after the ambush on May 1, 2022. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police here believe politics is less likely the reason behind the ambush of Police Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Barandog and his wife, STL Partylist first nominee Yvonne Cania-Barandog.
The Barandogs were fired upon by still unidentified suspects on a motorcycle while on board a white Toyota pickup truck at the intersection of Pope John Paul II avenue and F. Cabahug Street in Barangay Mabolo on Sunday, May 1, 2022.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Barandog was hit several times in different parts of his body and is still recuperating in a hospital. His wife Yvonne is in stable condition.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, information officer of the Cebu City Police Office, said that the family of the victims decided not to release any medical abstract or medical bulletin as long as victims, especially Barandog, remains unstable.
Macatangay said that Barandog is no longer in critical condition but they also could not consider him as stable yet.
According to Macatangay, based on parameters set by the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management in Camp Crame, the incident here could not be considered election-related.
“Cebu City is still a peaceful place. There is nothing happening here that might disrupt the coming election. So walay angay kahadlokan ang atoang mga mululupyo,” Macatangay said.
(So there’s no need for the public to be worried.)
With this, Macatangay said that they will not be recommending to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to place Cebu City in the election hotspot list.
“Atoa na gitangtang ang angle sa politics. Atoang gitutokan ron nga ang kani nga panghitabo, tungod sa trabaho ni Lieutenant Colonel Barandog being an active member of the PNP,” she added.
(We are taking out the angle of politics. We are focusing on the work of Lieutenant Colonel Barandog being an active member of the PNP.)
The 39-year-old Barandog is a graduate of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Academy “Sansinirangan” class of 2007.
Macatangay added that they are collating information about Barandog’s previous assignments and big operations.
Furthermore, Macatangay said that they are still in the process of obtaining copies of security camera footage in the areas where the couple came from not only prior to the incident but the entire day.
“We are exploiting all footage taken from functioning CCTVs. We discovered yesterday that is is very frustrating because there are CCTVs that are visible but not functioning,” she added.
Macatangay, however, said that they are working double time to move forward with the investigation.
For now, Macatangay appeals to the public to coordinate with them if they have knowledge that could help with the investigation.
“Right now, wa man mi klaro nga motibo pa og nganong nahitabo ni. Adto gyud ta manukad sa mismo nga hitabo,” Macatangay said.
(Right now, we still don’t have a clear motive and why this happened. We should really go back to the place where this happened.)
/bmjo
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