THE Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) will invite two policemen and a lawyer for an investigation to shed light on killing of Police Corporal Eric Alcosaba.
BCPO director Colonel Henry Binas said Tuesday, February 18, the investigators found the picture of the two policemen, one of them a police official and formerly assigned in BCPO, and a lawyer, inside the car of Alcosaba.
The two policemen and the lawyer were seen in the picture with Alcosaba. The picture was printed on a bond paper and placed in envelope inside the car of Alcosaba.
“We will invite these personalities for investigation. It seems that the victim has information about the incident that happened outside Bacolod City so we will determine their connection with the victim,” Binas said.
On Saturday, February 15, Alcosaba, a resident of Barangay Mansilingan, bought food in a fast food chain on Circumferential Road around 4:50 p.m. He was about to start his car, which was parked in the area, when four unidentified assailants, who were wearing bonnets, fired at him several times.
He managed to open his car and tried to escape, but he fell on the ground and one of the gunmen chased him and shot him again in the head at close range.
The victim sustained multiple wounds and died on the spot. The gunmen fled using a white vehicle.
Alcosaba was formerly assigned at Police Station 7 and City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (CAIDSOTG) in BCPO.
He was one of the policemen who were included in the supplemental affidavit of the slain former drug bagman Ricky Serenio for allegedly receiving protection money from a drug group.
In 2017, Alcosaba was reassigned to Mindanao where he went on absent without official leave (Awol).
The investigators are looking into Alcosaba’s involvement in illegal drugs and personal grudges as possible motives in the killing. They will also check the cellular phone of the victim as well as the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in the area.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia earlier ordered Binas to conduct a thorough investigation to identify and arrest the men behind the killing of Alcosaba.
“We do not condone that (the killing) because it affects our peace and order. This incident should not happen again here,” he said.
He said he also received feedback that some of the residents were alarmed by the incident.
The mayor pointed out that BCPO should conduct a hot pursuit operation to arrest the assailants and solve the killing.
Binas admitted that they are facing difficulty to investigate the cases that involved in illegal drugs because the people are afraid to cooperate to the authorities.
“This is one of our challenges, the people are afraid to cooperate with us. But based on the report that I submitted to Mayor Leonardia, it showed that region wide, BCPO has a good performance in the crime solution efficiency,” Binas said.
He said policemen are doing their job to address the crime incidents in the city.