Dumpit ex-wife cries overkill: No sympathies from Duterte

CEBU, Philippines — If only for the gunshot wounds SPO1 Adonis Dumpit suffered, the operation against him Wednesday was an “overkill,” his former wife said.

But President Duterte expressed no remorse over the incident.

“Let me ask you, drug-related? Was he a suspect of narco? Kung narco siya, mabuti dito na lang siya tinapos. Sinabi ko huwag kayo (cops) pumasok diyan (illegal drugs). Lahat kayo na pulis kapag pumasok diyan, huwag kayo magtaka na namatay kayo,” Duterte responded when reporters asked for his comment on Dumpit’s death.

“P*tang-ina naman, sinabi ko na sa pulis naman. Sino maliligayahan, pulis mo yan tapos yan pa ang pumatol?” he added.

The president, who was in Panglao, Bohol yesterday afternoon to grace the 25th Annual National Convention of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines, also said mayors who cannot enforce law and order in their cities will be stripped of their police deputation.

Meanwhile, at Dumpit’s wake yesterday in Cebu City, his former wife Josephine Gabuya denounced Dumpit’s violent death.

“Daghang igo sa iyang lawas. Daghan gani gitahi sa iyang body, damaged gyod. Iyang left side murag gitusak-tusak. Kulang nalang siguro sundang para tadtaron kay iyang paa pod gitahi na kay gabitay,” Josephine Gabuya, Dumpit’s former wife, told reporters yesterday.

The same observation was raised by Dumpit’s former colleague, retired Chief Inspector Joseph Cañete, former deputy chief of Cebu City’s Mobile Patrol Group, who said one or two gunshots could have already neutralized Dumpit.

“Pero gi-ulo man. Naa pa sa iyang kamot. Grabe na siya,” he said.

Cañete, who knows of Dumpit as a sharpshooter, said Dumpit could have shot any one of the authorities if he had indeed fired first as claimed by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“Naghuwat pod ko’s autopsy report kay di mahimo nga dili siya kaigo. Kon nakapabuto ni siya, dunay maigo gyod sa tinuod lang,” he said.

As of yesterday, NBI-7 office in Bohol, which jointly staged the operation along with the police, has yet to receive copy of the autopsy results.

Having worked with Dumpit for years, Cañete said he could not believe allegations Dumpit was involved in the illegal drug trade.

“Kon nagdrugas, kwartahan unta siya. Pero pareha man ming duha mangutang og coop,” he said.

Cebu City Councilor Margarita Osmeña, who was among the first officials to visit the wake, brushed off such allegations as well.

“I will think of him as I know him. I don’t want to go beyond that. The allegations that they have, it’s up to them,” she said.

She said she heard that there were people who were still shooting at him even if Dumpit had fallen to the ground. “He’s dead na, they killed him pa.”

As for Maria Ella Amores, Dumpit’s live-in partner, if authorities have indeed been monitoring Dumpit for his involvement in drugs, then they should have done it fairly.

“Gi-fair lang unta pud. Dili lang pud ta sila one-sided nga moingon sila nga si Daddy protector. Asa man dapita? Asa man dapita?” she said.

Dumpit was reportedly able to build a network with illegal drug dealers while he was serving jail time at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center and later at Leyte Regional Prison from 2010 to 2016.

Amores claimed that some men searched their house in the absence of a search warrant. Authorities also allegedly repeatedly asked her where their other house was when they only had one.

“Asa kuno ila balay nga lain? Wala man. Wala ko idea nga mao diay ni. Wala ko idea naunsa ang situation. Simpleng buhay mao gusto namo,” she said.

Dumpit, who turned 55 on May 13, was supposed to retire next year at 56, the mandatory age in the police service to retire. He would have received the necessary benefits fit for his time in service.

However, that remains unclear and close to being forfeited amid allegations he was a “narco cop” by Police Regional Office in Central Visayas and other law-enforcement agencies.

Lawyer Renan Oliva, head of NBI-Bohol District Office, yesterday reiterated that the operation against Dumpit was legitimate.

He said they started their surveillance on Dumpit on June 19, a day after receiving a tip about his alleged illegal drug activities.

He said they chose to schedule the operation on June 27 as they knew Dumpit would “deliver” drugs during his day-off, although Amores argued that Dumpit was not on day-off that day but was actually on his way to work.

Oliva also said they were not armed with search warrant during the operation because it was an interdiction or a plot to intercept transport of illegal drugs.  It was impossible, he said, to conduct a buy-bust operation against Dumpit because he was not into selling.

“He (Dumpit) has down-liners,” Oliva said, adding the NBI and PNP are now conducting an in-depth investigation as to Dumpit’s source of drugs.

Oliva further said his team, the PNP, San Isidro barangay captain, and a media representative went to the house of Dumpit in Tagbilaran City to check if he had cohorts hiding in there but the result was negative.Dumpit allegedly had a cohort, who is now being traced. (FREEMAN)