PDEA-7 OFFICER SHOT DEAD

AMBUSH. A police officer armed with an Armalite riffle secures the crime scene as Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) agents look for evidence at the area where Earl Rallos, deputy chief for operation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), was ambushed and killed along Villalon St., Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City on Friday, July 27, 2018.

A former radio broadcaster turned officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) was shot dead by men on board a motorcycle while driving his car along Villalon Street in Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City, past 5 p.m. on Friday.

Earl Rallos, 48, and a resident of Labangon, Cebu City, was the latest victim of brazen killings in Metro Cebu that have alarmed residents and local leaders.

Rallos suffered gunshot wounds on his head and body.

Rallos, the assistant operations officer of PDEA-7, was a broadcaster of Bombo Radyo and radio dySS for close to two decades before he joined the country’s anti-narcotics agency in 2009.

Chief Insp. Ma. Theresa Macatangay, commander of the Fuente Police Station that has jurisdiction over the area where Rallos was ambushed and killed, said they were looking at different angles into the killing, including work-related issues.

“There’s a possibility that the murder has something to do with his work in PDEA, but we’re not discounting other angles that may arise as we continue the investigation,” she told reporters.

A driver of a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) who happened to be in the place when the ambush took place was hit by a stray bullet in his left cheek. He was rushed to the hospital and was already in stable condition.

Macatangay withheld the name of the driver who could be utilized as a witness by the investigators.

Almost five years ago, on September 14, 2013, Jesus “Jessie” Tabanao, also a former Cebu broadcaster and PDEA spokesperson, was gunned down by a lone assailant while driving his car along Escario Street in Cebu City.

The police were able to identify and file a murder case against Tabanao’s alleged killer, but the suspect remains at large.

Macatangay appealed to witnesses in the slay of Rallos and those with closed-circuit television cameras near the crime scene to help them in the investigation.

“Please help us solve this case,” she said.

Rallos’ wife told investigators that her husband did not mention any death threat prior to the killing.

“The wife is still in the state of shock. We could hardly get other details from her for now,” Macatangay said.

Intent to kill

“All that is certain at the moment was there was really an intent to kill. I surmised he was being monitored by the perpetrators since he left the PDEA-7 office late Friday afternoon,” she added.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor on police matters, also joined calls for the speedy resolution of the case.

“I hope the assailants will be arrested,” he said. Police recovered 18 spent shells and two slugs from a caliber .45 at the crime scene.

Rallos, who has four children, was the latest casualty in the series of murders in Cebu City and Metro Cebu.

A bystander who saw the shooting incident said Rallos’ gray Toyota Altis car slowed down while preparing to turn right to Escario Street in front of the Cebu Capitol at about 5:10 p.m.

She said a motorcycle on the opposite lane came near Rallos car and fired several times at the victim.

The witness, who requested anonymity, said Rallos managed to go out of his car using the door on the passenger’s seat.

The assailant, she said, got off his motorcycle and crossed the street toward Rallos and shot him in the head. The gunman returned to the motorcycle driven by another person and fled.

“Wala nag-mask or helmet ang mga suspects. (The two perpetrators were not wearing any face mask or helmets when they killed the victim),” she said.

Rallos’ gun was left inside the car. Investigators said they were, however, verifying reports that another gun owned by the victim was taken away by the perpetrators.

The police were also looking into the CCTV cameras mounted in the area to identify the suspects and determine the motive behind the attack.

In shock

Arnold Bustamante, a close friend of Rallos and president of the Defense PNP Press Corps (DEPP), a group of police beat reporters, was shocked by the death of the former broadcaster.

“Nasubo ko pag-ayo sa nahitabo. Nakapa-alarma kini nato ilabina na kanhi siya myembro sa media. (I really sad with what happened. This is a cause for alarm especially that Rallos was a former member of the media),” he told Cebu Daily News.

When Rallos served as provincial director of the PDEA in Palawan years ago, Bustamante said the victim confided to him that he received death threats.

“Daghan kuno nga drug personalities nga nasuko sa iyaha. Posible nga duna siyay mga naligsan (He said many drug personalities were angry at him. It’s possible that he stepped on too many toes),” he said.

Rallos became a broadcaster of Bombo Radyo in Cagayan de Oro in 1991 and eventually transferred to the station’s branch in Cebu in 1995.

Two years later, he joined radio dySS with tri-media personality Bobby Nalzaro. Rallos also wrote for Sun.Star Cebu.

In 2009, Rallos decided to join PDEA-7 as an agent.

He was later assigned to different places like in Cotabato, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Zamboanga, Bohol, and Palawan before he returned to the PDEA-7 in Cebu in 2016. /WITH REPORTS FROM PAULINO LAURO