Establishing ties

PO2 Dindo Tajanlangit denied he threatened to kill PO2 Ryan Casiban of Cordova Police Station.

In the affidavit he submitted to investigators last Sunday, Tajanlangit said his only connection with Casiban was when he tapped the latter to look after the motorbanca reportedly used by Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot and retired deputy director general Marcelo Garbo during diving activities and during the fluvial parade on Sinulog.

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) spokesperson Supt. Brindo Nacario said that Tajanlangit believes Garbo owns the boat.

Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa has told the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 to dig deeper into Casiban’s death, after the latter wrote the names of Garbo and Loot in a police blotter, linking them to a drug syndicate.

Tajanlangit, who is also known as Atan, said he was asked by Supt. Harry Domingo to be the caretaker of the motorbanca. Domingo was then the deputy chief of Regional Intelligence Division (RID) when Garbo was still PRO 7 director in 2011.

More witnesses sought

Nacario said Tajanlangit was a member of the Regional Special Operations Group, a team under RID.

Casiban was assigned to the Cordova Police Station in March 2007, while Loot left CPPO on Jan. 12, 2007.

Casiban was last seen leaving the police station at 2:50 a.m. last Aug. 10, two days before his body was found. An autopsy report showed that Casiban died from a gunshot wound in the head. It also indicated that the officer’s toes were probably bitten off by some animal.

“I want to write what is justice for all to stop all illegal drugs. God is in me,” read part of Casiban’s police blotter statement.

He had also called former Cordova police chief Zosimo Jabas Jr., asking for help. He told the latter that Tajanlangit’s men were after him.

Nacario said they still have to gather witnesses to prove the connection between Casiban and Loot.

Chona, Casiban’s wife, told radio dyHP that her husband and three other police officers had gone to a resort in Daanbantayan after Loot asked them to accompany him.

Wala gyod ko kalimot kay nananghid man ako bana (I cannot forget because my husband had asked for my permission). Naa daw sila sa isla, molansar daw og mayor iyang asawa (He told me they were in an island and that his wife would run for mayor),” she said.

No recollection

Loot, in a CCTN report, said he does not remember Casiban even when he was still CPPO director.

May mga pronouncement na si Mayor Vic Loot (has made pronouncements), but we are hoping to get more of his side,” said Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy regional director for operations.

Lawas has ordered to examine the gun recovered near Casiban’s body.

The Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Branch and Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division are conducting the investigation.

A case conference on the progress of the investigation will be held in PRO 7 today.

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