CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – The regional police command formed yesterday a special task force to go after the killers of Superintendent Bernie Banalo, police chief of Cabuyao, Laguna.
Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, regional police director, designated Superintendent Faustino Manzanilla as head of the task force.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 4-A under Senior Superintendent Mark Edison Belarma, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Sta. Rosa police are supporting the probe.
A combined police-military team went yesterday to Talim Island in Rizal where the four killers of Banalo were believed hiding.
Banalo was gunned down in front of his house at Panorama Subdivision in Barangay Dita, Sta. Rosa, Laguna at around 6:30 a.m. last Tuesday.
Two of the gunmen approached Banalo as he was feeding his dog and chatting with a neighbor. The two shot him at close range while their cohorts acted as lookouts. – Ed Amoroso and Cecille Suerte Felipe