BACOLOD CITY – The Philippine National Police (PNP) replaced the entire police force in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental on Tuesday, March 7, over the killing of Gov. Roel Degamo and three days after three suspects were arrested in the city on Saturday, March 4.
ALL personnel of the Bayawan City Police Station in Negros
Oriental were ordered relieved by the PNP on Tuesday, March 7, following the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on March 4. (Photo courtesy of the Negros Oriental police via Headz Up Negros)
“This is operational and tactical decision of the command to make sure that the remaining suspects will be arrested,” said Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas, in a press briefing.
Pelare said that a team had been sent to Bayawan City to replace the sacked policemen who were transferred to Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (Norppo) headquarters here.
A fourth suspect was killed in a shootout with authorities in Bayawan City on Saturday night while a fifth suspect was arrested on March 5.
Criminal complaints of multiple murder, frustrated murder, illegal possession of explosives, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition have been filed against the arrested suspects who include three former military personnel who were discharged from the service, according to a report from PRO-Central Visayas.
Pelare said the arrested suspects were ordered transferred to Camp Crame in Quezon City by the national government. Two of them will be placed under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice (DOJ), he added.
Pelare said the suspects have shared substantial information on the crime but he could not share specific details as troops are still on the ground for the manhunt against the remaining suspects.
Degamo was talking to his constituents in his house in Pamplona, Negros Oriental seeking assistance when about 10 to 12 armed men arrived and started shooting. The governor and eight others were killed and 17 people, including two soldiers and a doctor, were wounded.
Pelare said that they have found matches from the bullets and assault rifles used during the ballistic examination but he did not elaborate further.
Prints were also taken from the three recovered getaway vehicles and are now in the process of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, testing, he added.
A Mitsubishi Pajero, a green Isuzu pick-up truck, and a black Mitsubishi Montero were found abandoned in Barangay Cansumalig, Bayawan City, several hours after the gun attack.
Pelare said they are currently investigating the owners of the getaway vehicles after they were identified through the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
"If they have something to do or if the vehicles were stolen. We have already coordinated with the owners," Pelare said, adding that the owners are participating in the investigation.
Pelare assured that the SITG is on top of the situation as they have a good lead in the case.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and some senators visited the wake of Degamo at his house in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental on Tuesday.
Based on an advisory of the Negros Oriental government, the remains of Degamo will lie in state at the provincial capitol in Dumaguete from March 8 to 12.
He will be transferred to his hometown in Bonawon, Siaton, Negros Oriental on March 13 and will be buried beside his parents and sister. No burial date has yet been announced.