Another Negros Oriental cop laid to rest

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — Police Senior Master Sgt. Tristan Chua, who was allegedly shot and killed by a fellow police officer in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, was laid to rest Monday morning.

The 39-year-old Chua was buried at the Sibulan public cemetery following a Holy Mass at San Antonio de Padua Parish in Sibulan.

A 21-gun salute was accorded to Chua during his interment in honor of his service and dedication to the Philippine National Police.

In a radio interview, Chua’s wife said she was initially informed by her brother-in-law about a shooting incident but was not told specifically about her husband’s condition.

“I was just calm. I thought he was just slightly injured. I changed my clothes and went to the police station,” she said.

She said she believed her husband had only been hospitalized until she later learned from his colleagues what had happened.

“I did not expect what happened,” she said.

Chua was born in Dumaguete City and had been residing in Sibulan town with his family.

He is survived by his wife and their only child.

Chua entered the police service in June 2008 and had served for nearly 18 years.

He was assigned as the chief intelligence police noncommissioned officer at the Sibulan Municipal Police Station.

Chua, along with two other policemen, was allegedly shot by Police Staff Sgt. Bonifacio Saycon inside a car in Barangay Tubtubon, Sibulan, on Jan. 9.

The incident reportedly followed a separate bar shooting in which a woman was also gunned down, allegedly by the same suspect.

Prior to the shootings, Saycon and the three officers, along with their police chief, had gone to a restobar to celebrate the chief’s birthday.

Police are investigating personal grudges as a possible motive while the investigation continues.