Sinas hits Tom over cop’s slay

CEBU, Philippines — The Police Regional Office - 7 has questioned the attention Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is giving to the killing of Police Captain Delfin Bontuyan.

For PRO-7 Director Debold Sinas, it is “fishy” that the mayor is reacting only to killings of policemen with alleged questionable background.

“Total, he made his assessment. Kami maghimo na sad mi assessment because the said person was reported to be involved in drugs. Wala lang nakita na ebidensya… If the Mayor concluded, pwede ba namo ma-conclude na siya pud (drug protector)? Because he concluded without any premise… pwede ba nga ako pud mo-conclude nga walang premise?” Sinas said.

Osmeña posted on Facebook the other day that Bontuyan’s death came on the heels of his daughter’s social media post claiming she was harassed by policemen from the Cebu City Police Office.

Sinas said that if the mayor cares for all cops, he would not visit only Bontuyan and SPO2 Adonis Dumpit who was killed in Tagbilaran City, Bohol last year.

Aside from visiting Dumpit’s wake, Osmeña also shouldered part of the expenses for his burial. Dumpit used to be the mayor’s bodyguard.

Last Tuesday, Osmeña went to the area where Bontuyan was shot dead at the North Reclamation Area.

“It is just a premise. Siya nag-istorya nga katong namatay pulis, dayon kaila siya, niya iya adtoan, so he might know, kay iya adtoan katong nga pulis nga suspected involved sa illegal drugs… kanang uban nangamatay diha, wala gyud siya nibisita,” Sinas said.

Bontuyan is the father of Christine Bontuyan, the Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Barangay Talamban in Cebu City.

Diversion

Sought for comment, Osmeña said the police are simply trying to divert the attention from the alleged harassment that Christine disclosed.

In a social media post on May 13, Christine said she received reports of suspicious looking men with body bags picketing in front of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan’s Voters’ Assistance Center in Barangay Lahug.

“This happened hours after Col. Garma ‘held for inquiry’ some BOPK supporters in the same area. She was confronted by a BOPK lawyer and left thereafter,” Christine wrote.

Osmeña said he was told that policemen had approached Bontuyan and asked of his relationship with the SK chairperson.

“Why are they trying so hard to divert attention away from the fact that Bontuyan's daughter made a post on social media about being threatened by no less than Garma herself on election day?” the mayor told The Freeman.

He, however, did not comment on Sinas’ argument that he may be supporting narco cops.

Drug List

Sinas confirmed that Bontuyan was transferred to Sulu in 2016 at the height of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. Before that, he was assigned at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cebu City.

Based on investigation results, the Philippine National Police (PNP) submitted lists of cops allegedly involved in the illegal drugs business, may it be protecting, recycling evidence, or mangling a case, but evidence was not enough to charge the cops formally.

Bontuyan was one of those cops.

“We came up with a list and he was part of it. Wala man mi makaso niya so ang first namo buhaton is to remove him so he cannot influence, and maputol ang network,” Sinas said.

Sinas said there were two lists – one of “ninja cops” or those who mangled cases and recycled evidence while the other was of cops who escort drug trading or protected drug lords.

While no cases were filed against them, the cops on the lists were transferred to other areas in the country. Most of them were moved to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Sinas said this was done in the hopes of cutting the cops’ networks and prevent them from influencing new policemen.

Bontuyan was not the first cop killed in Cebu that was also previously based in Cebu City.

Probe

Sinas said he will leave it to the Cebu City Police Office to investigate Bontuyan’s killing.

He said they are looking at work-related matters as possible motive. He said it is possible that someone ordered the kill for unfulfilled promises in relation to the drug cases Bontuyan handled in the past while he was still with CIDG.

Bontuyan’s family chose not to comment.

“We’d rather not comment on that, would like to spend this time remembering him, kay we know we will no longer see him,” Christine said. —  JMO (FREEMAN)