POLICE Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas said he may give full funeral honors to slain P/Capt. Delfin Bontuyan, who was ambushed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Cebu City last week.
He said he is just waiting for the formal request from Bontuyan’s family and the PRO-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Bontuyan’s last mother unit.
Sinas told reporters on Monday, May 27, 2019, that the PRO 7 will not offer the funeral honors outright, including the 21-gun salute, as it could be misinterpreted by the family.
“We can give it, but it might be intrusive. Being intrusive looks inappropriate,” he said in mixed Cebuano and English.
Sinas said he will respect whatever decision the Bontuyan family would reach.
Last May 21, four riding-in-tandem assassins gunned down Bontuyan while he was driving his motorcycle in the intersection near Mabolo Police Station. The 55-year-old Talamban native had just come from a court hearing when the attack happened in broad daylight.
Sinas has doubts as to whether Bontuyan had been in court before the attack happened because the latter was not in uniform.
“Usually, when we appear in court, we are in proper uniform because the judge might reprimand us if we are not in uniform,” he said.
Sinas has deployed a police team to secure Bontuyan’s residence in Talamban where the wake is held.
In a separate interview, Bontuyan’s daughter Christine Claire said her family decided to let PRO-ARMM handle the funeral rites.
Bontuyan will be buried at the Angelicum Garden of Angels in Mandaue City on May 30. Before the burial, a requiem will be held at 1 p.m. at the San Isidro Parish Church in Talamban.
Six days after Bontuyan’s murder, the police have yet to identify the killers.
Sinas said the absence of witnesses and security camera videos made the investigation difficult for his personnel.
The dashcam of the taxi where Bontuyan’s body slumped after the attack was already submitted to the Anti-Cybercrime Group for forensic examination.
Sinas has instructed Cebu City Police Chief Royina Garma to coordinate with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 in checking the past cases involving Bontuyan as these could offer clues to the murder.
Before he was transferred to police units outside Central Visayas, Bontuyan had been a long-time operative of the CIDG 7.
After confirming Bontuyan was still an active police officer at the time of his murder, Sinas said he told Garma to prepare the requirements needed for the creation of a special investigation task group. (WBS)