DUTERTE, the father, the former President of the Philippines, and former Davao City mayor, must be extremely pissed off with the failure of the police to solve the rape-slay case perpetrated on a 28-year-old lady architect from Calinan.
For the first time, he issued the most stinging criticism and warning against the Davao City police for its failure to arrest even a single suspect for the heinous crime done almost two weeks ago.
In his television program “Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa” over SMNI Channel last May 31, he demanded that if the police investigating the case of the late Vlanche Marie Bragas are not up to their task, then they should leave the service and avoid wasting the salaries they receive.
And perhaps due to his frustration with the status of the case, he issued a very stern warning to the police that if another similar crime happened again, he would personally see the police investigators so they could “taste his wrath.”
We could not really blame the former Mayor and President of the country for getting somewhat agitated with what is happening in his beloved city these days, with the Bragas rape-slay case as the one that made his anger burst.
Somehow PRRD could possibly not anymore tolerate the surging crimes in the city, capped with the Calinan incident and the subsequently alleged abductions perpetrated in the same barangay after the rape slay. Undoubtedly, the rise in criminality would tarnish the name of his son, current mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s administration. So he called on the police to give their “limitless efforts” to solve the Bragas case if only “to restore public confidence in the security and safety of the city.”
But even as the former city mayor and President is now openly showing his disgust in the performance of the Special Investigating Task Group (SITG) for the Bragas case, the police have been of late placed on the defensive because of the series of alleged abductions of persons believed to have knowledge or participation in the brutal rape-slay of the lady architect.
Feeling alluded to as the perpetrators of the alleged abductions, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) strongly denies the assertion posted on social media that the abductors come from their ranks. The assertions were buttressed of its credibility by the statement of one of the victims while seeking help from the barangay captain of Matina Pangi. The ante mortem statement of the victim said his abductors introduced themselves as “from the authorities.” So did the other guy supposedly nabbed during a buy-bust. The wife, however, said her husband was picked up by persons who introduced themselves as agents of the NBI inside their residence.
The Davao City Police Office, speaking through its information officer, said the police could not just abduct suspects and forces them into a confession. It is bound by operational procedures in handling persons of interest and suspects in a crime.
Well then, if this is the basis of the police investigation procedure, it is a subtle way of saying that it is not their operatives who are doing the alleged abductions. And if we have to assume that indeed those “picked up” by shadowy characters introducing themselves as from the “authorities” are persons of interest in the Bragas rape-slay case, then the police or its SITG probers are being beaten to the draw by other groups who may either be from the legitimate law enforcement units or some vigilante organizations.
If it is the latter group, then it is a blow to the police capability as the abductions are done right at the very noses of the police investigators. Now the police are already facing several other crimes instead of one – that of Bragas’.
We are just wondering if this is the very thing that DCPO Director Col. Alberto Lupas is saying about the “many missing (or many new?) pieces of the puzzle preventing the police probers from completing the entire picture of the crime. Of course, Lupaz is quick to assure the family of the rape-slay victim and perhaps the people of Calinan and the whole of Davao City that the police investigators are pursuing all angles.
But maybe this suggestion of ours might help. The police know that the motorcycle unit is an Ombac colored yellow. Maybe it will help them track the vehicle used in the crime if the probers go to the dealers of Ombac in Calinan or downtown and check who has bought a unit and check what color it is. They can easily go to the address of all buyers from Calinan and demand that the unit be produced. If the unit is used for ferrying passengers, then the police can ask for the identity of its driver on the night of the commission of the crime.
If the owner of the unit refuses to give the driver’s name or have his unit brought to the police, then the suspect or suspects in the Bragas case can now be identified. As to the abductions, most, if not all, Davaoenos were not born yesterday so as not to discern the truth about the police statement.
