THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will create a special investigation task force (SITG) that will look into the killing of lawyer Joey Luis Wee to hasten identification of the assailants.

Police Col. Josefino Ligan, CCPO director, said Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, that the SITG will be composed of representatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Central Visayas (CIDG 7), PNP Crime Laboratory, City Intelligence Unit, Investigation and Detective Management Branch and Mabolo Police Station.

Ligan said each unit will focus on a specific task to ensure a thorough investigation.

As of Friday, the police have not identified any suspects yet, but Ligan assured that police investigators have started reviewing the footage from the surveillance cameras near the crime scene.

He confirmed that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has also launched its own investigation.

He said some NBI agents have visited his office to ask for copies of the spot report and other documents pertaining to the case.

Ligan welcomed the NBI investigation alongside that of the police, saying this will expedite the resolution of the case.

He assured they will be closely coordinating with the NBI to ensure that what happened with the Christine Lee Silawan case would not be repeated. The police and NBI presented contradictory findings on the Silawan case.

Wee was shot and killed as he was about to go up the stairs to his office in Alchi Business Center in Barangay Kasambagan in the afternoon of Nov. 23.

A closed circuit television (CCTV) footage secured by the police showed two assailants.

Ligan said investigators were still trying to establish the direction from which the assailants came.

The killing drew outrage even from national officials since Wee once served under the Office of the Solicitor General.

Senator Richard Gordon described Wee’s death as a loss to the judiciary.

“He was a brilliant lawyer and was one of the top guns of the Office of the Solicitor General,” Gordon said. / AYB