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The police station of the city of Ronda is about 5 meters from the town hall, where Mayor Mariano Blanco III was killed before dawn
LAST KILL. The mayor of Ronda, Mariano Blanco III, is the 11th mayor killed in two years. Photo of Cebu Provincial Government
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday (September 6th) fired chief police inspector JR Palcon, chief of police in Ronda, Cebu, after the assassination of Mayor Mariano Blanco III.
This was confirmed in Rappler by the chief of the Cebu Provincial Police, Chief Superintendent Manuel Abrugena, during a phone interview, adding that eight other police officers from the Ronda police station had been relieved of the incident.
The police were fired when the PNP launched an investigation to determine if the team had made mistakes by failing to respond quickly when Mayor Blanco was murdered on Wednesday before daybreak.
Blanco is the 11th mayor to be killed during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. He was tied by the government to the drug trade and at the moment the police are looking at politics and personal grudges as possible reasons for his murder.
Was there negligence? The police station is close to the town hall, estimated by Cebu Daily News to be about 5 meters away.
In a previous interview, the city police chief, sacked, explained that when Mayor Blanco was killed, only two policemen were inside the police station.
Palcon said that there were 10 other people on duty at the time, but that 5 were under a search warrant and the other 5 were patrolled because there was apparently liga (basketball league) held in another barangay.
Palcon did not mention he was one of 12 in service. (READ: Is your city safe? Understand PNP statistics)
The cops were able to answer only when the two policemen on duty received barangay guards who saw the killers. The cops had to call the police patrolling to answer, said Palcon, as they could not leave the police station and his detainees on their own. – Rappler.com
