NEW People's Army (NPA) hitmen reportedly perpetrated the murder of the deputy police chief of Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental as retaliation for his anti-insurgency campaign.
Senior Insp. Porferio Gabuya Jr. was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding assailants while he was inside an eatery across the police station at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday, December 19.
Gabuya, 53, reportedly received death threats after he arrested several suspected NPA members in Guihulngan City.
Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas Director Debold Sinas said the perpetrators were members of the Special Partisan Unit of the NPA. He said they intercepted the rebels’ text messages claiming that they were the culprits behind Gabuya’s killing.
Sinas ordered a manhunt against the culprits, who were seen fleeing towards La Libertad town, Negros Oriental.
The PRO-Central Visayas distributed the pictures of the possible gunmen to the lower units, while the investigators of Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office coordinated with the Military Intelligence Group.
Last week, the police received information on the presence of armed men in Guihulngan City.
The police conducted a checkpoint on December 19, looking for a van that was mentioned in the intelligence report as the armed men’s vehicle.
A van was later intercepted, but the passengers showed documents to prove that they were not NPA members. The police failed to find firearms inside the vehicle.
At past 8 a.m., the police halted the checkpoint and proceeded to the public market for a security briefing.
Gabuya went to the eatery alone to drink coffee at past 10 a.m. A few minutes later, the assailants arrived and shot him several times using their automatic rifles.
According to the records of the PRO-Central Visayas personnel division, Gabuya’s career started when he became a patrolman of the Philippine Constabulary in 1998. He was promoted to the rank of police inspector in 2008. He was supposed to retire in 2021 when he reaches 56.
Gabuya was appointed as the chief of Talamban Police Station of Cebu City Police Office in December 2016.
He was assigned as the officer-in-charge of the Parian Police Station in March this year after the station’s 43 personnel were relieved following the arrest of their fellow officer for extorting money from a drug suspect.
Last October 24, PRO-Central Visayas ordered Gabuya’s transfer to Guihulngan City as the police force in the city lacked officials and personnel.
Chief Insp. Jamie Santillan, deputy chief of the PRO-Central Visayas personnel division, said Gabuya received several awards, including the Medalya ng Kasanayan (Efficiency Medal), Medalya ng Papuri (Commendation Medal), Medalya ng Kagalingan (Medal of Merit) and Medalya ng Paglilingkod sa Visayas (Visayas Campaign Medal).
Gabuya had a clean record in the personnel division.
Gabuya was one of the defense witnesses in the murder case against policeman Adonis Dumpit, testifying in court that the latter was only doing his responsibility as a policeman when he shot dead suspected robber Ronron Go after the latter allegedly victimized jeepney passengers. It was a shootout, not a rubout, Gabuya told the court in 2010. (from AYB of SuperBalita Cebu, with JOB/KAL)