More PNP units join manhunt for 5 others in Bersamin slay

The Intelligence Group (IG) of the Philippine National Police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have joined the manhunt for five other suspects in the gunslaying of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin in Quezon City last Dec. 16.

The Regional Intelligence Group 14 will use its technical capabilities while the CIDG will tap its field assets in pinning down suspected triggermen Gerry Turqueza and a certain Ka Jun, and their cohorts identified only as a former mayor, a brother of a former congressional candidate and an unidentified driver.

The five were among those implicated by former La Paz, Abra vice mayor Freddie Dupo and his cousin, Sunny Taculao, both arrested in Baras, Rizal recently, in the Bersamin killing in the course of their tactical interrogation by Task Force Bersamin.

In a case conference this week, Superintendent Jess Cambay, Cordillera police intelligence chief, tapped the IG and CIDG units based in Bangued, Abra to play key roles in the manhunt for Turqueza and the four other suspects.

“The IG has the technical capabilities and the CIDG has field assets which could be beneficial in our efforts to track down Turqueza and his companions whom we believe are hiding in a remote mountain town in Abra,” Cambay told The STAR.

“We have several tracking teams in the field but they have failed to report any positive developments,” Cambay added.

Dupo and Taculao, arrested in the mountains of Baras, Rizal two weekends ago, have named Turqueza and a certain Ka Jun as the gunmen of Bersamin and his police bodyguard, SPO1 Adelfo Ortega, in front of Mt. Carmel Church in Quezon City.

Dupo claimed it was not him but the former mayor and the brother of a former congressional bet who recruited Turqueza and Ka Jun for the “hit” job.

Cambay said Ka Jun, the former mayor and the former congressional candidate’s brother are former New People’s Army rebels and believed to be coddling Turqueza in their mountain hideout.

Dupo said the last two suspects were the ones who coordinated the “hit” job with the mastermind in the Bersamin ambush-slay.

Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, Cordillera police director, did not give any deadline for the combined PNP units to arrest Turqueza and his cohorts.

But Martin ordered the tracking teams from the Cordillera and Abra police, the IG and the CIDG to coordinate with each other to speed up the solution of the Bersamin slay.

“There is no need to give any deadline for the completion of the job because it would only pressure our operatives. Because of the cooperation of Dupo and Taculao, we have a very good chance of sending behind bars the five suspects, including the mastermind,” Martin said.