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By Sunday Post

There should be no speculation in the on-going investigation involving the death of a retired police captain.

This was the emphatic reaction of Police Supt. Julius Ceasar Gornez when asked for an update regarding the murder of retired police captain Bernardo Magaro.

The  city police chief’s comment came five day’s after the brutal murder of Magaro along the highway of San Isidro district, this city. The victim was 64 years old and a native  of Canhayupon, Dimiao town.

According to Supt.Gornez, five days since the gruesome killing, police investigators are still looking into possible angles for them to pursue that may lead to the identity of the suspects or solution of the crime. 

Supt.Gornez said by speculation what he meant was that he should not be prodded into making any statement that may derail the progress of the investigation.

This explained the city police chief’s refusal to make any comment of the murder as the handiwork of hired killers adding that all possible angles are looked into by investigators. By all indications, the murder has all the trappings of a professional hit job.

Pressed if police are facing a blank wall in the investigation, the police chief appeared slighted with this line of questioning.

He only  retorted that as a police officer “he did not understand the phrase “facing a blank wall”.

When police beats are covered by news  reporters,  investigators  facing a blank wall is a common denominator of both policemen and newsmen if no progress is in sight while the probe is going on.

Outside of police sources,  speculations abound regarding Magaro’s killing.

One of them involved his complicity in a murder of a city policeman about five years ago.

Although he was acquitted of the murder charge in a decision penned three years ago, there were speculations that his own killing could be attributed to the case where he was implicated as one of the key players.

The late police captain was charged with the murder along with the wife of SPO4 Paulino Alipe of the city police department in 2003. The late Alipe’s wife, Delfina, was also implicated in her husband’s killing. A certain  Jessie Paluga was also charged along with the two  but a regional trial court found them not guilty of the crime.

When Magaro was detained at the Bohol Detention and Rehabilitation Center (BDRC), he was accorded VIP treatment apparently because he was a ranking police officer before he was incarcerated.

It was gathered that upon his retirement as chief of police from  at least five Bohol towns, he was employed as BDRC guard. Then a reversal of roles befell him when he was indicted for the murder of a city cop placing him behind bars in the very same jail facility where he served as prison guard.   

In fact, because of his apparent clout in the political hierarchy, he was hired as BDRC prison guard right after the acquittal of his murder case.

He was a BDRC prison guard when killed.

The grisly murder happened Tuesday while Magaro was doing his routine of going out of the prison premises on board a motorcycle enroute to this city.

The pattern of his early morning movements must be the giveaway of his killers.

Tailed by his alleged assailants, the end came for the checkered career of the police officer in a dimly lit highway of San Isidro district, this city, Tuesday dawn.

Two motorcycle-riding men followed him on his way out of the BDRC vicinity. When the triggermen were  behind their target, two men armed with 45 cal.  and  99 mm pistols pumped bullets into the back of his head causing his instant death.

When responding policemen answered the alarm, what they saw was the lifeless body of Magaro bathed in his own pool of blood.

Spent shells of 45 cal. and 99 mm handguns were found near the crime scene.   

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