The PNP vs. guns-for-hire industry

More blood has been shed this week, this time in the coastal town of San Fabian, less than a month after the spillin San Carlos City.

The victims and the circumstances of the slaying are chillingly similar: both victims were lawyers, still at the prime of their lives, and both cold-bloodedly gunned down using a caliber .45 gun by men on board a motorbike out in the streets.

The identical profession of the victims, however, is quite inconsequential in linking the two cases.

Conrado “Pacpac” Soriano, Jr., who was killed in broad daylight on September 27 in San Carlos, was a popular private practitioner known for being the defense lawyer in several sensational cases. Alejo “Alex” Dojillo, on the other hand, was a government graft investigator working for the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila and comes home to his family on weekends in San Fabian. Alex was killed just last Monday this week, in the early morning hours as he was on his way to a station for Manila-bound buses.

The police have also pretty much ruled out political motives behind both cases.

But the procedures for the killings are way too alike that it sends chills down the spines.

Guns-for-hire appear to be thriving in the province, and the whole pay-to-kill business has seemingly evolved into a full-fledged industry where there are set amounts and defined operations.

Another trend that we are seeing in these two cases is the penchant for creating a special task force – i.e. Task Force Soriano, Task Force Dojillo, and Task Force Resuello if you want to go further û by the police. That’s well and good if it really means special focus and intensified efforts are being made to expedite the investigation, identify the culprits, and bring to justice the masterminds behind these gruesome crimes. But from all appearances, these seem to be intended to give false security and hope for now.

It has become imperative for our police force to show results that it has the will, the resources and capacity to putting a stop to this growing gun-for-hire industry in Pangasinan.

The very nature of cold-blooded killing implies perpetrators can only be those who are not new to the feel of a deadly weapon on their hands, who are hardhearted enough to point it at another human being and actually pull the trigger, and then drive away unflustered by blood spilling out all over the place.

Surely, the police could not possibly be absolutely clueless about who the players are in this bloody and merciless industry but that’s the impression it gives today.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments