Loot defends town chief vs Karapatan accusations

Cebu Police Provincial Office director Supt. Vicente Loot yesterday said Tuburan town police chief Crisanto Duque, for some reasons, could not be accused of sleeping on the case involving the shooting of some members of the militant group Karapatan.

Karapatan member Emmylou Cruz accused Duque of refusing to make cartographic sketches of the attackers and turning down her request to put the entire 78th Infantry Battalion on a police lineup.

Three men on a motorcycle had shot at Cruz, her husband and some other members.

Karapatan suspects the gunmen belonged to the 78th IB.

Loot said the police couldn't compel the entire 78th IB to appear in a police lineup because of the absence of a witness to pointing to them as the suspects.

Loot said he has directed the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch to include the 78th IB in its investigation.

For its safety, Karapatan must ask for a permit before it conducts meetings so that security could be provided, Loot said.

Cruz, her husband, and some members had just attended a meeting with fishermen and their families Thursday afternoon in sitio Punta, barangay 8 when attacked. - Gregg M. Rubio