NO CITY for rogue men.
That city is Cebu City where all law-abiding residents are safe, according to Mayor Edgardo Labella, who issued the statement following the ambush-slay of Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.
This, as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 was tasked by the Justice department to lead the inquiry on Navarro’s execution.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the NBI to investigate after he floated the possibility that the police masterminded Navarro’s murder.
NBI 7 Director Tomas Enrile said he instructed his assistant director, lawyer Dominador Cimafranca, and agents to start the investigation.
Following the President’s directive, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) disbanded the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) it had created to solve the crime.
Death in police custody
Also, the investigation of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7 on Navarro’s murder has started.
“We have to find out why the mayor was still killed despite the fact that he was in tight police security,” CHR 7 chief investigator Leo Villarino said.
For his part, Labella warned drug personalities and other criminal elements to better leave the city, saying he could not guarantee their safety.
Navarro was arrested last Thursday, Oct. 24, after he allegedly hurt massage parlor attendant John Dueñas. A portion of the incident was captured by a security camera.
The Clarin mayor, who was in Cebu City to attend a workshop, went to a massage parlor in Fuente Osmeña last Wednesday night, Oct. 23. He was reportedly drunk at the time.
Navarro reportedly asked for a female attendant; he got mad when told that no one was available. He then mauled Dueñas, after the latter told him to calm down.
A female attendant, who was later sent to the mayor’s hotel room, also alleged that Navarro harassed her. Navarro, after his arrest, gave a short interview to the media at the Abellana Police Station. The mayor denied the allegations against him.
Daylight execution
Last Friday, the Abellana police personnel, Navarro’s relatives and a police official from Clarin accompanied the mayor for the filing of a complaint of slight physical injuries against him at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
Masked men armed with long firearms went out of the white van that blocked the convoy; they carried out the execution in broad daylight.
On Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 29, the CCPO turned over Navarro’s case records to the NBI 7, including a set of evidence—three copies of security camera footage that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 7 obtained from establishments near the crime scene and the empty shells.
Case conference
Cimafranca and NBI investigators held a case conference on the same day. They decided to coordinate with the Navarros.
CCPO Director Gemma Vinluan welcomed the President’s order, saying it could erase doubts that it was the police who masterminded Navarro’s murder.
She said their morale is not down after the President’s pronouncement.
The SITG’s initial investigation showed that Navarro had no criminal record in Central Visayas except for the fact that he had been included in the President’s list of narco-politicians. It also coordinated with the National Capital Region Police Office, which has information on Navarro’s alleged involvement with a robbery group in Mindanao. (PAC, WBS, AYB, KAL)