A POLICE intelligence officer assigned under the Pontevedra Municipal Police Station was gunned down Tuesday morning, December 22, by riding-in-tandem gunmen on Reclamation Area, Barangay 1, Pontevedra.
Police identified the fatality as Police Staff Sergeant Ildefonso Casugod, 37, a resident of Barangay Recreo of the same town.
In a weekly press conference Tuesday, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) Director Police Colonel Romy Palgue said Casugod arrived on his bike and was about to join Pontevedra Mayor Jose Maria Alonso for a jogging session when he was approached and shot by the gunman.
The gunman then walked to a waiting motorcycle and they sped away to an unknown direction.
Palgue said Alonso was unharmed in the attack and bystanders immediately rushed Casugod to the Bago City District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by hospital staff.
According to information gathered by Police Captain Hancel Lumandaz, Pontevedra town police chief, the gunman was described by witnesses as male, 5'5" tall, with a medium-built body, wearing a hooded blue jacket and black jogging pants.
Lumandaz said the witnesses also confirmed that the gunman was armed with a .45 caliber pistol.
The Pontevedra police chief added they are currently eyeing Casugod's murder as job-related, as the victim was assigned to target drug personalities, wanted persons, and illegal gamblers in the town.
Palgue commented that they are also eyeing the possibility that the attack was perpetrated by the Special Partisan Unit (Sparu) of the New People's Army (NPA) especially since the insurgent group will celebrate their anniversary on December 26.
"We are looking into it," Palgue said. "We cannot tell yet para hindi mahamper ang ating imbestigasyon," he added.