By CALVIN CORDOVA
CEBU CITY – A senior agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas (PDEA 7) was ambushed by unidentified gunmen in Barangay Perrelos, Carcar City, southern Cebu last Wednesday afternoon.
Von Rian Tecson was the second PDEA 7 agent who got killed in a span of two weeks.
Last July 27, Earl Rallos was waylaid by a still-unidentified gunman while he was driving his car in Barangay Capitol Site here.
Rallos was the head of operation of PDEA 7.
Tecson, 41, was ambushed while aboard a Ford Ranger pick-up truck driven by Arnulfo Bauyaban, who survived the attack but suffered a gunshot wound in the leg.
The attack happened about 100 meters from Tecson’s house.
The Carcar police said that according to witnesses, the pick-up truck was sandwiched by two motorcycles before the riders fired shots at Tecson’s vehicle.
Bauyaban, who was able to jump out of the vehicle when gunshots broke out, told the police that Tecson was able to return fire and hit one of the gunmen.
When one of the assailants fell to the ground, a red Pajero arrived and rescued him.
Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said investigators are looking into Bauyaban’s accounts to find out if Tecson indeed was able to return fire.
“We have yet to get the result of the paraffin test. We were not able to recover Tecson’s service firearm. It might have been taken by the assailants or by someone else,” Abrugena said.
Tecson succumbed to gunshots in the body and head.
At least 30 empty shells for a 45. caliber pistol, 9mm pistol and M-16 rifles were recovered in the crime scene.
The CCPO has created a special investigation task group to investigate the ambush.
The victim’s brother SPO1 Von Tecson, who rushed to the crime scene upon learning the incident, revealed that Von Rian had confided to him that he and Rallos got threats after a big-time drug pusher was arrested one of their operations.
“I advised him to be extra careful but he just laughed it off,” said SPO1 Tecson.
“We are investigating his brother’s revelation that the victim had death threats. Work-related is one of the motives that we are looking at,” said Abrugena.
Abrugena said police are also checking hospitals since the victim supposedly hit one of the gunmen.
According to Abrugena, there were reports that a man with a gunshot wound was brought to the South General Hospital in Naga City shortly after the ambush in Carcar.
Naga is a neighboring town of Carcar.
Abrugena added the police are also securing the footages of the security cameras of some establishments near the crime scene.
