CDO police: Cops in shootout could be held liable

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -– The two policemen who were engaged in a shootout in Barangay Puerto here on Thursday night could be held liable if proven they hit a few civilians during the incident, said Lt. Col. Mardy Hortillosa, city police spokesperson.

The police report showed that Staff Sergeant Arman Tagolimot of the Misamis Oriental Provincial Police Office, and Chief Master Sergeant Jose Ryan Sevillano, an intelligence officer from the Puerto police station, fired at each other without realizing that they were both policemen.

Tagolimot was following up on a wanted person, identified as Jojo Rosales, in Purok 6, Puerto when the latter, realizing he was being tailed, took out his gun to shoot at the policeman but misfired.

Tagolimot started shooting but hit Jaymar Canencia, a bystander, instead.

Sevillano, who happened to be at the scene doing a follow-up investigation, also started shooting at Tagolimot.

Both officers and three more persons were wounded in what the police called a “misencounter.”

Hortillosa said Tagolimot could face charges if proven that he shot a civilian.

“Based on our police operational procedure, you must not fire indiscriminately. You must be certain of your target, and if you are not, you must not shoot,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 37th Press Freedom Week culmination night and awarding ceremonies at a hotel here on Saturday night, May 31.

He said sworn statements from wounded civilians and witnesses could determine who shot the victims and who kept firing despite the fact that one of the police officers may have already identified himself as a law enforcer, he added.

Pressed if Tagolimot and Sevillano might have held grudges against each other that resulted to the gunfight, Hortillosa said investigators have not received information that the two policemen have a personal score to settle.

“If you backtrack what happened, Tagolimot has already fired at the wanted person before firing at Sevillano. But the target was the suspect and not the policeman. They would have shot at each other first had they had grudges,” he said.

Both policemen were in plain clothes when the incident happened.

As a general rule, Hortillosa said, if a police officer goes outside his jurisdiction to conduct an operation, he is required to coordinate with his fellow law enforcers in the area.

He said they would check if what Tagolimot did was an exemption to that policy.

“There are times that you’re tailing a suspect beyond your area of responsibility, but calling your colleagues near you may mean losing sight of the subject person. Sometimes you’ll forego that protocol,” he said.

Hortillosa also clarified that conducting surveillance on a wanted person, as what Tagolimot did, was a legitimate operation since the suspect is a murder suspect. (Editor: Leti Z. Boniol)