EDITORIAL - Another cop bites the dust

A policeman accused of being involved in the illegal drug trade was killed in Cordova town, the second police officer murdered in less than a month and the latest to be slain by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Cebu.

Police Chief Master Sergeant Deogenes Carrillo, deputy chief of the Cordova Police Station, was driving his pickup on his way home to Barangay Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City when he was ambushed by men riding in tandem.

Unless investigators can present convincing evidence that the killing is not related to drugs, the first thing that comes to mind is that Carillo has been liquidated for his alleged involvement in the illegal trade.

Well, we cannot blame the public if it believes that Carillo was the latest law enforcer killed in the government’s heightened war against drugs. That is because majority of policemen and other law enforcement agents killed under the Duterte administration across the country have been tagged as drug protectors.

And Carillo just happened to also be accused of being a “narco cop.” In fact, his application for promotion had been allegedly rejected by the Philippine National Police leadership because of reports he was involved in drugs

Although Carrillo has other businesses that investigators should also zero in on, his death will forever be tainted by the “narco cop” allegation even if the Cebu Provincial Police Office admitted that it cannot establish the policeman’s role in the drug trade.

Carillo’s killing comes a month after the murder of Police Captain Delfin Bontuyan by unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City. Like Carillo, Bontuyan was also alleged to have been involved in drugs.

We are hoping for the immediate arrest of Carillo’s killers so the public will know the real motive behind his death. Of course, should the authorities fail to solve the policeman’s killing, they cannot blame the public if it has the perception that his murder is part of the state’s anti-drug campaign.