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Monday, April 14, 2003
RIID agents chase, gun down man in car
By Allan I. Varquez
CEBU -- A local trader was shot dead while driving in Barangay Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City past 7 Sunday night, in an attack that brought to mind a botched operation by a law enforcement agency last year.
Witnesses tagged two alleged confidential agents of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID) of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 as the gunmen, whom police cornered at the Pajo jeepney terminal minutes after the shooting.
Victim Edwin Pavia, 40, was heading towards Barangay Pusok when attacked. As he reached the corner of Acacia St. and M.L. Quezon, a black motorcycle with two men on board drove to his left and fired several shots at him.
After the shots, Pavia's car swerved at high speed to the other lane, skidding 20 meters from where he was first shot, before colliding with a passenger multicab.
The suspects, who were on his tail, stopped their motorcycle near the rear of the multicab, where one got off and fired several shots to finish Pavia off.
The attack brought to mind the National Bureau of Investigation's (NBI) fiasco last Dec. 13, when its operatives and alleged confidential agents strafed an L-300 van of Plantation Bay, mistaking it to be that of a drug lord.
Five hotel employees were injured in the shooting, which provoked a congressional inquiry and calls to limit the use of armed confidential agents by law enforcers.
Pavia succumbed to 17 bullet wounds. Doctors of the Mactan Community Hospital declared him dead after 20 minutes of trying to restore his heartbeat.
The victim's body bears a "Magic Group" tattoo on the left shoulder and chest. Near his car were four empty shells from a .45 pistol and a 9 mm. pistol.
SPO2 Rolito Jumao-as, a Lapu-Lapu City police homicide investigator, said that during the shooting, the team of PO2 Onofre Piquero and SPO1 Francisco Lacno, who happened to be on board a police car, quickly gave chase.
They failed to catch the culprits, though, who sped towards the direction of Barangay Basak.
But minutes after the failed attempt to catch the gunmen, the police station received a tip from a male caller that the two men who shot Pavia were at the Barangay Pajo PUJ terminal, just 30 meters from where Pavia was ambushed.
A police team was sent to arrest the suspects, who were later identified through their RIID identification cards as Emerlito Reyes, 46, and Wilson Diabordo, 34.
The two were reportedly trying to flee from the PUJ terminal upon sensing the approaching policemen.
Homicide Chief Investigator Geoffrey Baguio said sometimes criminals choose to return to the crime scene to spy on how the policemen are responding.
Reyes yielded a .45 pistol, while Diabordo carried a .9 mm pistol, the same caliber of firearms used in killing Pavia.
Both firearms were unlicensed, and neither Reyes nor Diabordo could present a mission order to allow them to carry firearms outside their houses.
Along with their firearms were a magazine for the .45 pistol with six live bullets inside and one empty magazine, plus two bullet-loaded magazines for the 9 mm. pistol.
"Nisamot ang ilang involvement sa kaso kay ang ilang mga armas natukma man sa mga empty shell nga atong na recover sa crime scene (The fact that their guns matched the shells found at the crime scene strengthens the possibility they were involved)," Baguio said.
He said the suspects will be submitted to a paraffin test, which determines gunpowder residue, while their firearms will be subjected to a ballistic at the PNP Crime Laboratory today. A ballistic test helps identify which firearm was used to fire recovered slugs.
The recovered RIID identification cards bore the signature of the unit's former head, Supt. Jonathan Miano. Reyes' ID expired on Dec. 31 last year, while that of Diabordo expired on Dec. 31, 2001.
Jumao-as said Diabordo also carried a membership ID from Task Force Kill Droga, which Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza organized to help the police monitor narcotics in the city.
"We need to verify if they are still RIID agents, considering the ID cards are expired," Jumao-as said.
He said the two did not resist when arrested. But they refused to comment when interviewed by reporters. Sun.Star Cebu |
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