By MARTIN SADONGDONG
The cop, who was shot dead Tuesday by an unidentified gunman along EDSA in San Juan City, was initially included in the “narco-list” of President Duterte, Police General Oscar Albayalde, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, revealed on Wednesday.
Albayalde said Police Senior Master Sergeant Solomon Cugay, assigned to the Regional Learning Doctrine Development Division of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) was listed as a high-value target (HVT) in the first narco-list made public by Duterte in August 2016.
Cugay entered the police service in December 2003.
“Accordingly, he was included in the PRRD list before,” Albayalde told reporters at the sideline of the sixth National Anti-Cybercrime Summit held in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
However, Albayalde noted that Cugay was later cleared of drug involvement after investigators conducted further validation.
The basis of Cugay’s inclusion in the narco-list was intelligence reports about his alleged coddling of top-level drug personalities and drug recycling.
“However, according to the RD (regional director), [Police Major] General [Guillermo] Eleazar, he was already adjudicated and cleared when after two years, investigators found no proof of his involvement in illegal drug activities. But it was true he was in the list,” Albayalde said.
Despite being in the narco-list, Albayalde said probers have yet to determine the motive behind his killing.
“We don’t know yet if it’s drug-related or not,” he said.
“We don’t know maybe he made some enemies as a police officer. It’s still being investigated,” he added.
Cugay was on board a motorcycle traversing the southbound lane of EDSA corner Connecticut in Greenhills, San Juan City, when he was shot multiple times by a lone gunman around 3:30 p.m.,Tuesday.
The suspect sped off to an unknown direction after the incident.
Police recovered seven empty shells and three deformed slugs from the crime scene.
The shooting incident happened a few meters from the PNP main camp in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
“I just wonder why the San Juan police had no patrol cars there,” he said.