A police official and at least three of his men were tagged on Tuesday in the killing of a lawyer in Rodriguez, Rizal two months ago.
Brig. Gen. Edward Carraza, director of the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police, said the policemen involved appeared to be also involved in the summary execution of a police errand boy who was earlier tagged in the ambush of lawyer Edilberto Golla Jr.
He identified the policemen as Lt. Col. Melchor Agusin, Police Senior Master Sergeant Michel Eralino, Police Staff Sergeant Alberto Umali and Patrolman Benito Julian Jr.
Agusin used to be the chief of police of Rodriguez, Rizal while the three other cops were all assigned to the same town.
It all started with the assassination of Golla near his residence in Eastwood Greenview Subdivision on May 17 when gunmen shot him repeatedly.
On June 4, a certain Conrado Esteban was found dead in Barangay Gulod Malaya in San Mateo, Rizal.
What was suspicious about the death of Esteban, according to Carraza, was that the former was presented as a suspect by the local police in the killing of Golla before he ended up dead.
Esteban was also found to be an errand boy at the Rodriguez police station.
“Upon in-depth investigation, it was found out that said shooting incident was connected to the case of Attorney Golla as shown by the results of cross matching examination on the recovered M16 rifle, on the things of Conrado Esteban.
“Result showed that it was the same M16 rifle used in the killing of Attorney Golla, and the recovered one piece of caliber 45 fired cartridge case, matched with the caliber 45 fired cartridge cases found at the ambushed site of Attorney Golla,” he added.
The presentation of Esteban as the suspect in the killing of Golla, according to Carranza, was an attempt to mislead the investigation.
Golla was a native of Sultan Kudarat. His death prompted the creation of a special task force to solve his killing.
BIG BREAK
Police got a big break in the investigation when they were able to secure a closed-circuit television from the subdivision where Golla was killed.
The motorcycles that were used as getaway motor vehicles were compared to other CCTV footages and it was then that the investigators traced the identity of two of the gunmen– they are cops.
Eralino and Umali were immediately sacked from their post after their identity as Golla’s gunmen was established.
Police then raided the house of Eralino in Taytay, Rizal where he was arrested. Umali, on the other, remains unaccounted.
During the investigation, Eralino admitted his involvement in the killing of Golla and squealed two other names, Julian and Agusin.
JUST AN ORDER
Allegedly, it was Agusin who ordered the hit on Golla.
Eralino reportedly told the investigators that they were just ordered by Agusin, the reason why the police have not yet established the motive.
Agusin is a member of the Philippine National Police Academy Class 2000. He is reportedly assigned currently at Camp Crame.
Carranza said two cases of murder will be filed against the four policemen. (Aaron Recuenco)
