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Friday, September 22, 2006
Ouano gives police ultimatum to catch killers
By Rose O. Verzosa
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano has given Mandaue City Police Office Chief Eduardo Catabas 72 hours to solve the “brazen” killing of bank manager Narciso Damole Tuesday night.
“If I find that his investigation is unsatisfactory, this could result to his relief,” Ouano said in a statement released yesterday afternoon.
Ouano also asked Catabas to account for the 200 reinforcement policemen, whom he expected to be in strategic locations, particularly the area where the Cebu International Convention Center is located.
“Where were the patrol cars when the incident happened? I just ordered the deployment of additional patrol cars,” he added.
The Mandaue City mayor said he also ordered the drivers of patrol cards to regularly report their location so that crimes could be responded to with a dispatch system.
Policemen, he added, should not just be standing around in their assigned beats, but should be assisting pedestrians and motorists who are in trouble.
“My prayers are with the family of Narciso Alivion Damole,” his statement also read.
Catabas, for his part, said yesterday that he intends to change their police security arrangements.
Although robbery still remains the most probable motive in the killing, Catabas said they are still exploring other angles, including the possibility that it was premeditated or that it was an inside job.
So far, though, no witnesses have come out.
Insp. Ramon Villar, deputy chief of the Mandaue City Police Office’s intelligence and investigation division, said the evidence so far gathered points to the robbery theory.
He said there is no showing that the victim’s car tire was deliberately punctured, adding that it was already deflated even before he left the Allied Bank that night.
Thanie Narciso, the security guard of Allied Bank where Damole worked, went to the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) yesterday morning to give his statements.
He was possibly the last person who saw Damole alive.
He told reporters and police yesterday that Damole left the bank at 5:17 p.m. last Tuesday, as recorded in their logbook.
Narciso, who was the guard on duty, said Damole went back to the bank at 8:40 p.m. that night and went inside the bank to use the men’s room.
After that, Damole took out some cash from the automated teller machine and asked the guard where the nearest vulcanizing shop was, so he could inflate his tires.
Narciso told Damole that there is one near ManPark Cemetery in Barangay Guizo. Damole did not drive towards the cemetery but, instead, proceeded in the opposite direction, he said.
It was past midnight that the guard received a call from the police, asking for confirmation whether Damole is indeed the Allied Bank branch head.
Catabas also clarified that the policeman who was stationed near the crime scene already pulled out from the area at 9 p.m., as what was reflected in their record. The shooting was believed to have occurred past 9 p.m.
Because of the incident, Catabas is prompted to change their security arrangements.
Instead of deploying their policemen to the identified security routes for the Asean, he will assign them to crime-prone areas and during the hours when crimes are frequently committed.
He said the policemen will still be deployed to definite posts in two shifts. At night, when no policemen are posted, the mobile patrol cars will take charge.
He said San Miguel Corp. already constructed 25 police outposts for them, which will be placed along major thoroughfares.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 22, 2006 issue)
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