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Thursday, January 08, 2009
Fiscal’s killers stump police
CEBU CITY -- Law enforcement agencies are exhausting all means and will be conducting parallel investigations to pin down those behind the murder of Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Ian Osorio last Monday afternoon.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas considers his killing a “command case,” with NBI Director Medardo de Lemos ordering agents to “focus all their resources on the investigation.”
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In a command case, the entire NBI force is involved; not just one or a team of agents.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), on the other hand, organized a special investigation team to be led by Superintendent Pablo Labra II, CCPO deputy chief for operations.
Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas Director Ronald Roderos, for his part, has ordered police to ensure the safety of members of Osorio’s family.
De Lemos said he wants full access to the cases that Osorio handled either during trial, inquest or preliminary investigation.
He added that agents have been tasked to look into “every possible angle” and that one of them is that the killing was work-related.
During a case conference Wednesday afternoon, CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador said Labra’s team has been gathering evidence and information that would help identify the culprits.
No reward
Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, however, will not offer any reward yet for the solving of Osorio’s murder, but assured financial assistance will be given to his family.
Rama said Wednesday that he does not believe the offer of a cash reward would solve the killing of Osorio.
“The point is they have to work first rather than talk about a reward… Maybe a reward would not even be necessary for now. There were a lot of offers for a cash reward before, but did they solve the problem?” he told reporters Wednesday noon.
In his news conference, he said he also would not blame the ambush on the laxity of the CCPO and the police units near the crime scene.
He also has not given instructions to provide additional security to prosecutors and judges, but reminded Comendador and barangay officials to beef up security down to the sitio level.
“We cannot conclude yet that there is a failure on the part of the police…What is important is that the police are mindful of their responsibilities, and that they are reminded to be creative in working out security problems, in focusing on this concern without being unmindful of the whole area of responsibility,” Rama said in a phone interview Wednesday night.
Gun-for-hire
Comendador believes the attack on Osorio was the handiwork of a gun-for-hire.
It also appeared that the suspects, who tailed Osorio on a red motorcycle, studied the assistant prosecutor’s regular route before carrying out the attack.
Osorio, who was alone in his car, was shot twice by a motorcycle-riding gunman when he stopped in a traffic jam at Ma. Gochan St.
A police station sat about 100 meters away.
Both the gunman and the motorcycle driver wore helmets to conceal their faces.
Comendador said that Labra’s team is closely coordinating with the City Prosecutor’s Office to help determine the possible motive in the attack, although work remains the strongest motive they are looking into.
Comendador said he requested the prosecutor’s office to conduct an inventory of the complaints and cases Osorio handled.
Comendador and Labra met with Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane and NBI Executive Officer Ernesto Macabare at Gubalane’s office late Wednesday.
The meeting was held behind closed doors but a source said it was agreed that while the investigation will be parallel, the agencies concerned will be comparing notes.
Gubalane, prior to the meeting, said prosecutors are welcoming the assistance of the police and the NBI and hope that the suspects are taken into custody soon.
He shot down media speculation that having the police and the NBI investigating the same case would only result in conflict, as well as the need to have a task force.
“Our confidence in the police and the NBI is quite high,” Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon, for his part, said.
Isolated
Comendador also said that Osorio’s ambush-slay was an isolated case and would not affect the celebration of the Sinulog.
When ask whatever happened to the Task Force Motorsiklo, organized primarily to run after motorcycle-riding criminals, Comendador said the police are not superheroes who could immediately solve or prevent crimes.
In general, he said, the task force has been effective in its responsibility of running after motorcycle-riding criminals — as indicated in the number of arrests made and the downtrend in the statistics of crimes linked to motorcycle-riding criminals.
He would not blame the Mambaling Police Station for the incident because the latter promptly responded to the alarm.
He said that instead of putting the blame on a particular group, the CCPO has pooled its sources together and will focus on unmasking and arresting the culprits.
Comendador also welcomed the move of the NBI and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to conduct parallel investigations. (JTG/MNR/With LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (January 8, 2009 issue)
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