THE Philippine National Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) has formed a special task investigation task force that will run after groups or persons responsible for the ambush-slay on Monday of Senior Insp. Jonas Tahanlangit in San Francisco town on Camotes Island.
Chief Supt. Patrocinio Commendador, regional director of PRO 7, told reporters yesterday the task force would hold a case conference today on Tahanlangit’s slaying case, amid speculations that a drug syndicate was behind the killing due to his active intelligence work on the illicit drug trades on Camotes Island.
Tahanlangit, 39, the police chief of Poro town also on Camotes Island, was waylaid by two men riding a motorcycle while he was on his way to Poro from the port of San Francisco.
He was driving his black Toyota Hilux with two teenage passengers when he was shot. Tahanlangit died of two gunshot wounds on his neck and left shoulder.
His passengers – Ryan Sampan, 19, son of the village chief of Poro’s Barangay Santa Cruz; and Teresa Ann Montalban, daughter of his farm’s trusted caretaker – were wounded but were later declared in stable condition by their attending physicians.
Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, PRO-7’s deputy regional director for operations, told reporters that pending investigation, they were willing to provide security for the family of Tahanlangit, whose wake is now being held at his house in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City.
“We are still exerting all our efforts in identifying the culprits,” said Lawas.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), the lead investigating unit, obtained video footage of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the Danao City wharf and the port on Camotes Island but has no clear suspect yet.
“We still could not picture out (sic) and come up with facial illustrations (of the suspects). We already have names but we still have to establish evidence and that is what we are doing now,” he said.
Meanwhile, CPPO chief Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod said he has appointed Senior Insp. Raymundo Enriquez as officer-in-charge of the Poro police station.