CEBU CITY – The Cebu City Police Office yesterday maintained that they did their best to secure Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro only that their best still turned out to be not good enough.
Police Col. Gemma Vinluan, chief of CCPO, also dismissed some insinuations that the killing of Navarro past noon last Friday was the handiwork of the police.
“If we wanted him dead, why would we let him wear vest and helmet? We also provided police escort,” said Vinluan after a reenactment of the attack was conducted last Sunday afternoon.
Navarro was killed while being brought by the police to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office for his inquest proceedings on charges of slight physical injury, acts of lasciviousness, and usurpation of authority.
The charges stemmed from an incident inside a massage parlor where the mayor allegedly assaulted the establishment’s workers.
During the daring attack, a white van blocked the police vehicle carrying the mayor before four armed men disembarked.
The armed men fired shots to the ground before poking their guns at the policemen, who accompanied the mayor.
One of the assailants yanked the mayor out of the vehicle and peppered him with bullets.
The assailants also fired shots at a Starex Hyundai vehicle carrying the mayor’s relatives and some officials of Clarin.
Vinluan also explained why they police failed to put up immediate checkpoints to intercept the assailants.
“Our police are deployed in different fields. It will take time to gather them and proceed to the areas were checkpoints must be put up,” Vinluan said.
Police Brig. Gen. Val de Leon, chief of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas, said police escorts were caught by surprise. “The attack happened so fast. It was done in just a minute so our police were not able to react,” De Leon said in a press briefing yesterday.
De Leon, who also witnessed Sunday’s reenactment of the attack, said an investigation will be conducted to find out if the police escorts committed security lapses. “There is a standard operating procedure for that but there are instances when we rely on sound judgement,” said De Leon.
De Leon’s initial assessment that the police did just enough but the assailants jumped the gun on them that prevented them to retaliate.
“There were 67 spent shells recovered in the crime. Imagine the noise and the chaos at the time. There was an imminent danger. Even the most courageous person may not be able to react in that particular situation,” said De Leon.
De Leon appealed to the public “not to speculate” and allow the Special Investigation Task Group to finish its investigation. “We might be able to complete the investigation in a month. We are reviewing some security camera footage,” De Leon said.
The mayor’s cell phone was also turned over to the Anti-Cybercrime Group as part of the investigation.
Politics and the mayor’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs are being looked into as possible motives of the crime.
Navarro, 50, was included in President Duterte’s list of narco-politicians. (Calvin Cordova)
