THE Police Regional Office-Davao Region (PRO-Davao) said there is no order to relieve the Calinan Philippine National Police (PNP) chief following the rape-murder incident of an architect.
“The case was solved naman, so hindi mag-a-apply ‘yong one strike policy, na-solve ‘yong case ng Calinan (The case was resolved, so we cannot apply the one-strike policy),” PRO spokesperson PltCol. Eudisan Gultiano said in an interview on Davao City Disaster Radio on June 8, 2023.
Gultiano said there are no directives from the PRO-Davao of any police officials who will be relieved from their assignment.
On May 18, Architect Vlanche Marie Bragas, the victim of the rape-murder incident in Calinan, was found dead.
A day later, May 19, Special Investigation Task Group Bragas (SITG-Bragas) was created to solve the case, which has caused public fear despite being an isolated case.
On May 21, Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte offered a P1 million reward to those who can provide information on the suspects behind the architect’s death.
On May 24, SITG-Bragas identified five persons of interest which led to an angle that there might be multiple perpetrators of the incident.
“Ang possibilities nako (The possibilities are), it's either one or two or the driver kasi kung makikita mo yung built ng biktima, kayang kaya naman siya ng isang tao (since based on the physique of the victim, it could be manageable for just one person to handle her),” Gultiano said in the previous interview during the AFP-PNP press conference on May 24.
On June 5, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) headed by Director Alberto Lupaz said that they already filed rape with homicide charges against the four alleged perpetrators – one is John Doe, one is now under the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Davao Region (PDEA-Davao), one at large and who is currently missing and the other one is dead.
Lupaz said although they were able to file the case against the alleged perpetrators, the case is still not resolved yet.
Lupaz said the ongbak, the vehicle that was used in the incident, is still missing.
However, he said that no matter how the ongbak will be repainted with another color, they can still identify it.
“I believe sooner we will find out nasaan na ang motor na ito, kahit papalitan niyo yung kulay ‘yan ma-iidentify namin ‘yan (where the ongbak is, even if you change its color we can still identify it),” Lupaz said.
“Ang gusto natin na ma-find out ‘yung material evidence... ‘yung motor na yan na ma-recover, pati ma-identify namin ang John Doe na ‘yan (What we want to find out is the material evident, that motor that is used in the crime to be recovered, and to identify the John Doe suspect),” Lupaz said.
This concern has been raised as PltCol. Edgardo Bernardo, former Tagum City Police Chief, was replaced by PltCol. Jeffrey Latayada due to the one-strike policy of the PNP.
“We are adhering to the new CPNP’s directive of one strike policy. Unfortunately, a series of significant incidents occurred in his jurisdiction within a span of days,” Gultiano, said in an online message sent to SunStar Davao on April 29, 2023.
It can be recalled that two rape-murder incidents happened in Tagum City in just a short span of days in April.