POLICE Regional Office-Central Visayas Director Debold Sinas denied the police are involved in the murder of five men on Thursday dawn, October 4, in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City.
Antonio Ruiz Belande, one of the two survivors, said in a radio interview that he believed the police were responsible for the shooting incident that happened around 3:50 a.m.
The other survivor was Charmine Puran, who played dead and later hid in the bush after the assailants left. She went out at 8:30 a.m. on the same day.
Sinas said they consider Puran and Belande as victims. Two police officers were assigned to the hospital to secure the survivors.
He talked with the two survivors, who clarified to him that they still trust the police.
"They are not afraid of the police," Sinas said in Cebuano.
He said the investigators will get the survivors' statements without force.
The police official said he heard the radio interview with Belande, who said he heard his abductors mention the family names Bautista and Abella.
"Actually, he was not saying he was a policeman. Nakadungog lang siyag pangalan Bautista ug Abella," Sinas said. (He just heard the names Bautista and Abella)
Sinas said the radio interview cannot be admitted as evidence.
"Inig abot sa fiscal, ilabay lang na sa amoa," he said. (When it reaches the fiscal, they will throw it to us) (KAL)