BACOLOD City Councilor Al Victor Espino urged the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) to double its effort to identify and arrest the suspects who mauled and robbed an official of Bago City, Negros Occidental in Bacolod on May 26, 2021.
Espino, chairperson of the City Council committee on police matters, said BCPO should conduct a thorough investigation to determine the identities of the two suspects.
Police identified the victim as Councilor Cleo Gaudite, 47, of Rafael Salas Drive, Barangay Balingasag, Bago City.
On May 26, the victim went to Police Station 2 and reported that he was mauled and robbed by two unidentified assailants inside the Imperial Court.
The victim told police that he was driving his vehicle along 18th Lacson Street when two unidentified persons boarded his car and forced him to drive the vehicle toward Imperial Court in Barangay 16.
When they reached the area, the assailants mauled him and took his cellular phone worth P50,000, P7,000 cash, and identification cards.
The victim sustained multiple injuries. He was brought to a hospital.
The assailants also took the victim's car and used it as their getaway vehicle.
“We want to solve this case (not because he’s an elected official), but we don’t want that this will happen again here in the city,” Espino said.
He said the incident might be a new modus operandi of the suspects in Bacolod.
“We should identify the suspects so we can file a case against them,” he added.
Espino noted that this week, he will hold a meeting with BCPO director Colonel Manuel Placido to discuss the peace and order situation in the city.
On Friday afternoon, the victim’s Mitsubishi Mirage vehicle was found on the Circumferential Road, Barangay Villamonte. The vehicle was locked and its front tire was flattened.
Police Captain Paul Vincent Pendon, chief of Police Station 2, earlier said they have no lead yet on the real identities of the assailants.
The investigators are also coordinating with various business establishments along Lacson Street and Circumferential Road to check their closed-circuit television footages to determine the identities of the suspects.