Special task group formed to probe killing of ex-cop

CEBU, Philippines — A pathologist calls on the Cebu City government to keep the city clean, as it continues to fight the spread of the COVID-19.

A special investigation task group (SITG) has been formed to investigate the killing of a retired cop in Cebu City.

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director, said the SITG is composed of the personnel from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas, Cebu Intelligence Branch, and City Investigation Branch of CCPO.

“I already directed the station commander (Captain Janelito Marquez, chief of Guadalupe Police Station) to create an SITG so that all efforts pertaining to the investigation will be jointly done by the other police units,” said Ligan.

Retired Police Staff Sergeant Brazillo Borinaga, 51, was shot dead by an unidentified assailant while parking his car just a few meters outside their house in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City Thursday afternoon.

Borinaga’s wife had just alighted from the vehicle and gone into their house when she heard a burst of gunfire from outside. That time, they had just arrived from buying supplies from the city proper.

He sustained two gunshot wounds in the head and another two in his shoulders, which led to his immediate death.

Drug-Related?

Marquez said they are looking into the alleged drug links of Borinaga as a motive to the killing. 

"There were reports (about Borinaga’s involvement in illegal drugs before),” he said.

In a separate interview, Police Regional Office Director Albert Ignatius Ferro said he also received similar information.

Borinaga, he said, was allegedly included in the drugs watchlist.

Marquez earlier said the motive of the killing could also be work-related  

Borinaga was assigned in the Regional Special Operations Group and the Cebu City Police Office before he was reassigned to Cordillera Autonomous Region (COR) in 2017. In 2019, he then decided to take an early retirement last year.

Marquez said Borinaga was allegedly transferred to COR because of the drug allegation.

Marquez said police are also validating reports that Borinaga was ambushed prior to Thursday’s attack.

Police are still gathering footages of closed-circuit television cameras installed near the crime scene in order to possibly identify the perpetrator.

They are also waiting for the statement of Borinaga’s family.  KQD (FREEMAN)