We know that dead men tell no tales. If only for the secrets taken to the grave, there is public dismay over the killing of Ozamiz robbery gang leader Ricky Cadavero and his henchman Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr. on July 15.
There are Filipinos who don’t mind seeing notorious robbers and killers shot dead, and never mind if stories that they engaged police in a firefight are implausible. But people do mind when notorious felons are executed to prevent them from identifying their coddlers in the police or civilian government.
The Philippine National Police is looking into this angle as one of the cops present when Cadavero and Panogalinga were killed reportedly gave a statement, establishing clearly that there was no shootout and the two accused robbers were executed by their police escorts in San Pedro, Laguna. The police officer claimed he was instructed by his superior, still unidentified, to fire at the windshield of a van that was supposed to transport the Ozamiz gangmen back to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa. The police escorts initially claimed the gangmen were killed in an ambush staged by gunmen on two motorcycles.
Like some of the other notorious organized crime rings in this country such as the Kuratong Baleleng and Red Scorpion Group, the Ozamiz gang is reputed to have been set up by law enforcers themselves. Even the Abu Sayyaf was reportedly organized by former constabulary officers who were integrated into the national police, initially to penetrate the ranks of Islamic separatists. Such gangs are then used by crooked cops for their own criminal activities, until the gangmen go out of control. That’s when the cops decide to kill the monster they have created.
This is the angle being pursued in the killing of Cadavero and Panogalinga, which even the PNP leadership is describing as a rubout. With several police officers facing charges for the massacre of 13 men including a suspected gambling baron in Atimonan, Quezon last Jan. 6, people thought the PNP would have learned its lesson. This makes the suspected silencing of the Ozamiz gangmen even more dismaying.