CEBU City Mayor Edgardo Labella has promised to give legal assistance to the family of Ritchie Nepomuceno, the complainant against erring police officers who was gunned down on Monday night, April 19, 2021.
The investigators of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), for their part, are still gathering information to identify the two men aboard a motorcycle who fatally attacked Nepomuceno in Barangay Basak Pardo.
CCPO Director Josefino Ligan said his investigators will talk to Nepomuceno’s husband, Danilo, after the latter admitted that Nepomuceno had sent him text messages on Monday morning.
The security cameras from establishments in the area will be checked to determine the license plate of the assailants’ motorcycle, Ligan said.
Danilo was urged by Labella to visit his office or the City Legal Office.
The mayor has instructed City Legal Officer Rey Gealon to aid Nepomuceno’s family with their legal needs, and he also urged the National Police Commission to conduct a “no-nonsense” investigation.
Nepomuceno was the first complainant who came forward to blow the whistle on the 10 police officers at the Sawang Police Station of the CCPO.
The 10 police officers, including team leader Staff Sgt. Celso Colita, were operatives of the station’s drug enforcement unit when they allegedly robbed Nepomuceno of more than P100,000. Colita himself allegedly raped Nepomuceno twice inside a motel.
Nepomuceno had lodged her complaints before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7, but she later sought the help of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) Visayas Field Unit of the Philippine National Police, which investigates shenanigans of cops.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 subsequently ordered the relief of the 10 police officers and transferred them to the regional headquarters in Cebu City while facing investigation.
The Sawang Calero police chief was also relieved from his post for his alleged failure to supervise his subordinates and he was transferred to the CCPO headquarters. This was why they became known as the “Sawang Calero 11,” but the actual number of officers who arrested and robbed Nepomuceno was only 10.