Operatives of the Criminal and Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are now conducting a manhunt against a police sergeant who allegedly took part in the killing of retired general and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.
Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said that there is a need ot secure Sgt. Jeremy Causapin since his name was mentioned in the Lower House’s Quad-Committee hearing as one of the key players in the killing of Barayuga.
Based on the hearing, it was Causapin, alias Toks, who allegedly gave P300,000 to a certain Nelson Mariano, who in turn, hired a gunman to liquidate Barayuga in July 2020.
“I understand may efforts to locate him and we are now on the stage of the CIDG conducting manhunt to locate the whereabouts of Jeremy Causapin because it is very vital to locate him and be placed under our custody,” said Fajardo.
“So definitely, it is the priority of CIDG to tke custody of Sgt. Causapin and we would like to take this opportunity to appeal to Causapin and to his family that it would be in his best interest to cooperate with the CIDG,” she added.
Fajardo explained that Causapin could corroborate the statement made by Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza about the planning and the killing of Barayuga.
Mendoza told lawmakers that former PCSO general manager Royima Garma and former police colonel and now National Police Commission (Napolcom) commissioner Edilberto Leonardo asked him to kill Barayuga for his alleged involvement in illegal drugs operations.
PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil earlier ordered the reopening of the case of Barayuga based on the statement made by Mendoza, who is now under protective custody of the PNP, and likewise ordered a policy review of how a person is included in the drug watch list.
Police earlier went to the house of Causapin but he was not around and that his wife instead gave a letter of resignation.
But as a matter of policy, Fajardo said that the resignation letter submitted by Causapin will not automatically in effect as there must still be an order approving it.