Cebu cop gunned down

CEBU CITY -- A policeman less than two years away from retirement was shot and killed after attending a court hearing in Danao City on Monday.

Witnesses said that two men on a motorcycle attacked SPO2 Roberto Castro Canencia, 54, along Pio del Pilar St. in Barangay Poblacion, Danao City.

It was 11:45 a.m.

Canencia tried to crawl away after being shot, but the masked gunman approached and fired a .45 pistol at close range, said a witness, who asked not to be identified. The gunman then got back on the motorcycle, which another man with a helmet drove.

He said it’s possible that one other motorcycle was involved in the attack. Canencia lay lifeless in a pool of blood in front of a pawnshop.

Authorities said a closed-circuit camera installed in the pawnshop may help identify the suspects.

Chief Inspector Ricky Delelis, chief of the Danao Police Station, said they will request the manager of Oro China Pawnshop to cooperate with the police so the gunman and his accomplice can be unmasked.

Canencia was shot twice in the chest and twice in the back.

He was rushed to the Danao City District Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

An investigator, SPO1 Rodrigo Roble Jr., said the police are looking at all angles and do not discount the possibility that the killing was drug-related.

“Planado gyud to siya (It was a planned attack),” Roble said.

Canencia’s wife, Lelisa, and his two daughters were deeply saddened. Lelisa appealed to the police to identify the suspects quickly.

They don’t know what could have motivated the shooting.

Roadblocks and a chase failed to trap the suspects as of Monday night.

Danao City Mayor Ramon Durano Jr. said his office is willing to assist the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador, chief of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), said he will let the Danao City Police Station lead the investigation, but will create a task force if needed.

Canencia was caught allegedly using shabu in a drug den in Danao City last January 23, 2011. He was subsequently relieved from his post in the Minglanilla Police Station, then transferred to the provincial police headquarters.

He had been picked up by a team from the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group (Raidsotg) Central Visayas during a buy-bust operation against alleged drug personalities Marites Dalumpines, 38, and Jeshwani Tabla, 37.

In that operation, the police recovered a .38 revolver loaded with six bullets, a fake KG9 automatic pistol and drug paraphernalia.

Canencia, however, had said he didn’t use shabu nor own the fake pistol.

At that time, he said he was with Tabla in that compound because he was about to get his damaged .38 revolver fixed.

He faced administrative complaints, as well as charges for illegal possession of firearms and violation of the special gun ban, as a result of that operation.

Whether that had anything to do with the attack that ended his life on Monday, investigators have yet to find out. (JRB/DSM of Sun.Star Cebu)