Suspects in slay try on retired cop charged

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A retired official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has filed attempted murder charges against two persons arrested in Dipolog City, who were found to be out to kill him.

Police Major Helen Galvez, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 9 (PRO9), said retired Police Colonel Alejandro Gunao filed the complaint.

Apart from Gunao’s complaint, the police have also filed charges of illegal possession of firearms against the two, Galvez added.

Galvez revealed that the Dipolog police discovered the plot to kill Gunao when they investigated two persons arrested in Barangay Punta on August 3.

Those arrested were Arvin Laranjo Emperio, 41, a resident of Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental, and Jayson Sonsona Jakosalem, 37, a resident of Lanao Del Norte.

Galvez related that Emperio and Jakosalem were roaming Punta aboard a motorcycle on Saturday, catching the suspicion of intelligence operatives.

When they were arrested, Dipolog policemen recovered one hand grenade, a caliber .45 pistol, 18 bullets, a loaded caliber .38 pistol, two small sachets of suspected shabu, cellular phones, and masks.

Upon interrogation, Galvez said the duo admitted they were tailing and waiting for an opportune time to kill a retired police officer.

The plan was also discovered on the phone messages of the arrested suspects, Galvez added.

Emperio and Jacosalem are detained at the Dipolog Police Station.

Before this, the two suspects were charged for robbery and illegal possession of firearms in Oroquieta City and Dipolog.

Galvez said they were also establishing the motive behind the attempted killing on Gunao, former chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory in Region 12.

In the wake of the controversy surrounding the violent dispersal of protesting farmers in Kidapawan City in 2016, Gunao cleared the anti-riot policemen of responsibility, based on results of ballistics examination.

Gunao used to be the municipal police chief of Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte before he was transferred to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

After his retirement, he joined politics. He lost a bid as councilor of Dipolog, running under the Nacionalista Party, in the recent midterm polls. /lzb