OFFICIALS of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) yesterday said they have identified personalities behind the killing of PO2 Jose Clint Cañete. The suspect is an asset of a law enforcement agency.

While officials declined to release details pending investigation, Supt. Vicente Mersan Premne said the asset may have masterminded the killing or may have executed the crime himself.

“This could be a way to send a message to other law enforcers,” said Premne, acting director of the MCPO.

The new information also strengthens theories that Cañete’s murder may be related to two assassinations earlier this year.

Premne, who theorized that a syndicate was behind Cañete’s murder, said Cañete may not be the last person the syndicate was after.

The police chief said investigators had an idea who was next on the syndicate’s hit list, but he refused to say who the target was or the target’s line of work.

Last May, lawyer Richard Sison, who handled drug-related cases in court, was killed by motorcycle-riding assailant. A few days later, Priscillano Gingoyon Jr., an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, was also gunned down during a drive-by shooting in Lapu-Lapu City.

Cañete, a member of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group (RAIDSOTG), was killed Tuesday noon on the old Mandaue-Mactan Bridge. He had just come from the Lapu-Lapu City Palace of justice to testify against a drug suspect.

Premne said investigators already had substantial leads.

He said that to solve a case, police needed three kinds of information: personalities involved, organizational membership, and identity of the gunman.

Investigators now only lacked the identity of the gunman.

“It could be that the asset and his group were the ones who did the shooting or they could have sought guns for hire,” Premne said.

Two men were earlier arrested in Mandaue City after they attempted to flee from a police checkpoint.

They were cleared of involvement in Cañete’s murder, however.

Ramon Manligis and Roger Bayawa were in a car when police stopped them at the checkpoint.

Manligis, who was driving the vehicle, stepped out and ran towards a nearby river. Police were able to catch up to him.

Two .45 caliber pistols were found on him.

Bayawa was also arrested after a brief chase.

Premne said Manligis would be charged with illegal possession of firearms, but was believed to be uninvolved in Cañete’s shooting.

BENEFITS

Cañete’s family will receive the full benefits entitled to them from his service in the police force, said Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos.

Roderos, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said he would also give the slain policeman’s family P10,000 as his personal means of helping them.

The family is also entitled to insurance money and scholarships for all Cañete’s children up to college.

Learning from the shooting incident, Roderos said he would recommend the implementation of a “buddy system” among policemen who would attend hearings.

The buddies would go to and leave court on separate vehicles, each policeman acting as backup for the other. With Correspondent Chito Aragon