BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN / ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Philippine National Police chief, Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, yesterday ordered a thorough probe into the killing of a police officer, who was actively involved in the anti-drug campaign of the Bacolod City Police Office Sunday.
Eleazar tasked the BCPO and the Police Regional Office 6 to check all angles in order to determine the real motive behind the killing of P/SSgt. Joseph Nepomuceno at Rosario Street in Bacolod City.
He said he wants concerned police units to exert their best efforts to arrest the killers of Nepomuceno.
Eleazar expressed his sympathies to the bereaved family of Nepomuceno, 37, and assured that all necessary assistance would be provided to them.
Nepomuceno succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after he was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding suspects. He was declared dead on arrival at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.
Eleazar vowed that justice will be served to the police officer.
He also urged witnesses and persons who may have information to come forward and help authorities bring the perpetrators to justice.
P/Brig. Gen. Rolando Miranda, Western Visayas police director, accompanied by BCPO director, Col. Manuel Placido, P/Col. Allan Nobleza, and Maj. Ramel Sarona – BCPO Station 1 chief, visited yesterday the family of Nepomuceno in Purok Dawis, Brgy. 14, Bacolod City, and extended their condolences.
Miranda assured the Nepomuceno family of swift and decisive action in serving justice to the slain police officer.
TASK FORCE TO BE FORMED
He said the police will form a task force to solve the case. He also gave P50,000 in financial aid to the family.
The PRO 6 described Nepomuceno as one of its dedicated personnel and a hard-working anti-drug police operative.
P/Captain Edward Bolivar, head of the BCPO-CDEU, said Nepomuceno was a diligent drug operative, who was instrumental in the arrest of several high-value targets.
Bolivar said that receiving death threats is a usual scenario for them and told the killers of Nepomuceno that what happened will not affect their campaign against illegal drugs. Nepomuceno was on his scooter when he was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assailants who were tailing him.*
