Witnesses fail to identify CPPO policemen in lineup

Policemen from the Cebu Provincial Police Office were made to participate in a lineup yesterday afternoon for witnesses to identify who shot dead moneylender Pilar Hernandez and her secretary Wevina Pancho last Saturday.

The result: None of the policemen were identified and the policemen complained of being paraded like criminals infront of the media.

Hernandez and Pancho were shot inside the PRH Lending Investment Inc. along T. Padilla Street by a man who entered their office. It was speculated that a policeman did the crime as no one could enter the office without passing through a door with an electronic lock controlled from the inside, and her firm catered mostly to policemen.

The said police lineup was the answer of the CPPO to cooperate with the Cebu City Police Office in the investigation of the robbery and killing of Hernandez and Pancho.

The Homicide Section of the CCPO believes that the suspect is a member of the CPPO based on the accounts of the witnesses.

The Provincial Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the CPPO called on at least 11 policemen assigned in different police stations to report to their office yesterday for no particular reason. When they were there, they were ordered to form abreast infront of the CPPO office.

When one of the policemen approached PIIB chief C/Insp. Juanito Enguerra and asked what was it all about, Enguerra gave him a white bond paper with a number written on it and ordered him to fall in line along with the rest of the men.

Then SPO3 Zenaido Pastorfide of the Homicide Section brought the witnesses, who could look at the policemen from the safety of the CPPO office without being seen, and told them to look for the possible suspect. Nobody was identified

The process took only five minutes, but the policemen complained that they were treated like criminals before the photographers and cameramen present.

"Demoralizing kaayo, makadaut sa among pagkatawo, naa gud mi mga anak," said a policeman who has two children studying in colleges here in Cebu City.

They said they do not mind being in the lineup, only that it should have been done in private away from the media.

Enguerra told reporters that the police lineup did not intend to humiliate the subjected policemen.

"Dili man sila gi-subject for humiliation, ang kinahanglan man gud nato personal nga presensya nila," Enguerra explained.

Two policemen who failed to report yesterday will be presented to the witnesses later.

Inspector Erlando Metante of the Homicide Section said that the assailant was not alone when he committed the robbery as what they earlier believed.

He said that they have possible additional witness who said they saw the assailant and another man eating at a small eatery fronting PRH Lending Investment Inc. that day.

The assailant even bought cellphone load from a nearby pharmacy while his companion was seen getting on a red motorcycle.

As Hernandez, Pancho and their driver arrived, the assailant –whom the new witnesses described as policeman– went to the office and entered together with the victims. – Edwin Ian Melecio