Loot’s PMA batch demands thorough probe on his ambush

Bogo policemen immediately created roadblocks and conducted checkpoints after Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot and his family were ambushed at the Maya Port. Loot’s classmates at the PMA are demanding a thoright investigation. CDN PHOTO/Tonee Despojo

The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sandigan Class of 1982 has urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an “honest to goodness and unrelenting investigation” on the slay-attempt on Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, their “mista” or class member.

Loot belongs to the PMA Sandigan Class of 1982.

In a statement released by PMA Sandigan ’82 Association Inc.(PSAI), Loot’s classmates strongly denounced the attack which happened while the election gun ban was imposed.
PSAI said investigators must leave no stone unturned and try hard to identify the perpetrators.

“This is the only way by which our people can be assured of a peaceful community to live in,” PSAI said in the statement.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Maya, created by the Police Regional Office to investigate the ambush, convened yesterday at the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO).

“Napagusapan po namin (during the meeting) anong dapat gawin bawat unit para sa lalong ikabibilis ng resulta o solution ng case,” said CPPO Director Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena.
(We discussed what should be done by each unit so we can expedite the solution of this case.)

He said the task force is composed of different units in the PNP like the Deputy Regional Director for Operations (DRDO), Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the crime laboratory, and the legal department of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).

Abrugena said they also tackled the possible motive behind the attack against Loot and his family but until now, they cannot esbalish the real motive behind the ambush.

“May development naman yung investigation at na discuss. However itong development di pwede i-divulge sa public kasi it might affect sa investigation,” Abrugena said.
(There are developments in the investigation which we cannot yet disclose.)

In an earlier interview with Cebu Daily News, Loot said that he believed that the people behind his attack is the same group responsible for the ambush of businessman Wellington Lim last April.

He said the attack on him was probably because of his being linked to illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Abruega however could not confirm Loot’s suspicions, especially that there were discrepancies in the statements of the witnesses they interviewed.

“Hindi po pa namin ma-issue yung motive kasi tinitiyak pa namin ‘yun. ‘Yung motive po kasi may presence ng mga collected evidence and accounts po ng witnesses. Eh may discrepancies. Different yung accounts so di pa natin ma establish yung motive,” Abrugena said. (We cannot ascertain the motive behind the ambush. The motive should have the presence of the collected evidence and accounts of witnesses. But there are discrepancies in the statements of some witnesses.)