Drugs, grudge seen in AWOL cop’s slay

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is looking into illegal drugs and grudge as possible motives behind the weekend killing of a police officer who went absent without leave (AWOL).

Police Colonel Henry Biñas, BCPO director, said Patrolman Eric Alcosaba of Barangay Mansilingan here was previously assigned to Police Station 7 and City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) before he was moved to Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2017 after his name was included in the supplemental affidavit of the late Negros island top drug suspect Ricky Serenio, who was also killed last year.

Serenio’s affidavit also tagged other ranking police officers to the illegal drug trade in Negros and Bacolod City.

Alcosaba was among the five police officers on the island who allegedly received weekly protection money from a drug group here.

The police officer was gunned down by four unidentified armed men Saturday afternoon at Circumferential Road in Barangay Villamonte here.

Police Major Reynante Jomocan, head of Police Station 4, said Alcosaba parked his pick-up truck beside a fast-food chain around 3:50 p.m. when the gunmen arrived and shot him.

He managed to run a few meters away from his car but fell to the ground. Then one of the gunmen came near him and shot him again in the head at close range then fled on board a sports utility vehicle.

Jomocan said the victim succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.

Police recovered more than 10 empty shells of unknown firearms. The incident resulted in traffic congestion for an hour.

Although there were reports on Alcosaba’s alleged drug links, Biñas said they cannot yet establish the real motive for his murder because the case is complicated.

He said police recovered from the victim’s car an envelope containing photos of some personalities on the island.

“We cannot tell if those personalities have drug links. We will investigate why the victim had photos of them,” he added.

Biñas said the personalities were not necessarily politicians, but some of their names have already been heard. He refused to provide more details about their identities while the investigation is ongoing.

Biñas said they will also try to check the present employment of the victim after he went AWOL for more than two years now.

He said that Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas has no jurisdiction on him because his supposed mother unit is in Mindanao but he did not report there since 2017.

Sometime in 2016, Alcosaba was also accused of allegedly mauling a waiter near a resort at Barangay Punta Taytay.

“We will check if he had businesses or had a misunderstanding with somebody which could trigger the killing,” the city police director said.

Meanwhile, Biñas said the victim’s family refused to subject his body to autopsy.

Video footage that was taken by either a car dash camera or a jeepney passenger showing one of the gunmen shooting the victim circulated on social media a few minutes after the shooting.

Biñas said they will use it as evidence in their investigation to also identify the perpetrators.

“We will have it enhanced so that we can have a lead on their identities,” he added.

Police will also ask copies of closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of establishments near the crime scene.