THE Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas has created a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) to investigate the two separate shooting incidents in Iloilo City Sunday, January 19, 2020.
PRO-Western Visayas spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong said the SITG was created because the shooting incident was considered by the regional police as a big case to solve.
"When we say SITG, it's the region (police) that oversees all the actions of the investigation. That means they (SITG) could pull resource to fast-track the investigation," Malong said.
Two persons were killed in two separate shooting incidents in Iloilo City Sunday, January 19.
The first incident happened at 12:05 p.m. in Barangay Cuartero in Jaro, while the second happened 25 minutes later, at 12:30 p.m., in La Paz.
The victim in the Jaro shooting was identified as Allen Muller, 40, of Barangay Cuartero.
In the La Paz incident, the victim was identified as Delfin Britanico, 36, a local businessman and son of former Iloilo assemblyman Salvador "Buddy" Britanico.
Malong said the result of the ballistic examination done at the crime laboratory revealed that the shell casings found in both crime scenes matched the same gun. This suggests that the gun used and the suspects are the same in the two incidents.
"For now, we cannot say the direction of the investigation but we are very hopeful we will have a big breakthrough these coming days because of the thorough investigation," Malong said.
She said the police appreciate the ongoing investigation, which is also being done by the team of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
"At least, it's a collaborative effort on the part of the PNP (Philippine National Police) and NBI which will fast-track the investigation. We appreciate their help, we should cooperate with each other in terms of the conduct of the investigation," Malong said.
She said if the family will pursue the investigation results of the NBI, the later can file the case.
"For the PNP, we cannot stop the investigation because it could affect the image of the organization if we cannot solve the case," Malong said.
The Muller incident was included in the SITG because police see a possible connection between the two shooting incidents, she added.
"The SITG before are only limited to prominent personalities, members of the media and foreigners. But now, if there are big cases that need to oversee by the higher headquarters, then we create SITG," Malong said.
Malong did not say the specific name of the task group. (SunStar Philippines)