Retired cop abducted
THE Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is having difficulty identifying the armed men who abducted a retired police officer outside a hotel in Bacolod City on Good Friday, April 19.
Police Brigadier General John Bulalacao, director of Police Regional Office (PRO)- Western Visayas, said nobody would cooperate in the investigation.
On Friday morning, Police Major Lito Pirote came from a hotel after visiting a friend when about eight to 10 unidentified armed men arrived and forcibly took him to a white van.
The two security guards of the hotel were reportedly disarmed and some guests were told to drop to ground.
Pirote reportedly fought back but he was hit by an unknown firearm.
The assailants who were wearing bullet vests dragged him to the vehicle and left the hotel’s guests and employees unharmed.
The firearms of the two security guards were also left outside the hotel.
Police requested a copy of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage from the hotel management for the possible identification of the perpetrators and based on the CCTV footage, three armed men were involved in the incident, Bulalacao said.
But even the copy of the CCTV footage cannot clearly identify the faces of the persons involved in the abduction incident, he added.
I was informed by Police Colonel Henry Biñas, officer-in-charge of BCPO about the development of the case but unfortunately they are facing a blank wall because they have only gathered limited information about the incident, the PRO- Western Visayas director said.
Bulalacao however said police were able to get the van’s conduction sticker number 4514 which they may consider a jumping board to be able to trace them.
“We want to know what really happened,” he said, as he urged the local police to exert extra efforts to solve the case especially that the victim was a retired member of the PNP.
“I won’t give a timeline to them because they might end up arresting a person who is not actually involved in the case but just a fall guy,” he said.
As of 10 a.m. Sunday, April 21, the BCPO has yet to locate the whereabouts of Pirote.
It’s been two days since he went missing.
Meanwhile, when asked for the possible motive of the abduction, Bulalacao said he cannot confirm if indeed Pirote was included in the drug list of President Rodrigo Duterte.
When asked if the incident can also be work-related, he said he cannot really tell because he might end up speculating.
“I don’t want to speculate. We need to be careful with every pronouncement we make,” he said.
He also said that they have not received information that the perpetrators were allegedly from the law enforcement, but they will also consider it as another angle.
In October 2018, Pirote was among the five police officials who were relieved from their posts after they were named by Duterte in the drug matrix for allegedly engaging in the recycling of illegal drugs.
Police Captain Leo Estopa, head of Police Station 2, said Pirote retired from the police service in January this year.
His last assignment before his retirement was in the Philippine National Police - Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group.