Police deny existence of ‘Cebu City Death Squad’

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Police officials were quick to dismiss speculation that a death squad similar to that in Davao City was operating here.

Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City police director, said they could not conclude that the “CCDS” written on a piece of carton left on the body of a carpenter meant Cebu City Death Squad.

The killing of Rogil Nudalo may have been prompted by a personal grudge or perpetrated by other drug pushers who made it appear that it was done by a vigilante group, he added.

READ: Amid street executions in Cebu, new group appears

“Maybe the assailants were just riding on the issue,” said Doria.

Nudalo, 38, was playing with guitar while drinking with his two companions past midnight Saturday when a lone assailant approached him and shot him three times in the chest in Barangay (village) Talamban, Cebu City.

Before leaving the crime scene, the assailant left a handwritten note on a piece of carton that read: “Pusher, Carnapper, Akyat Bahay (from) CCDS.”

Witnesses later told the police the gunman boarded a getaway motorcycle driven by a male companion.

In a text message, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he “can’t worry about these things,” adding that he was focused on other concerns.

READ: Police ordered to probe alleged Cebu ‘death squad’

“I’m giving the police a free hand because they changed all the key commanders I recommended,” he said.

Asked if the killings would affect tourism and business climate in Cebu City, he replied he didn’t know.

“Its Imperial Manila that has control. We can only hope for the best,” he said.

Asked if the killings may have been done by the Hunter Team he organized in mid-2000, the mayor replied: “No.”

“But in my first 30 days when I was active against drugs, there seemed to be a general distrust with the police in Cebu city as evidenced by local calls to the police mobile patrol. They received less than ten calls a day. When I gave my cellphone number out on Facebook so people can report drug related activity, I receieved over a thousand text messages in 4 days. So the people are angry especially families whose members are drug victims. So the ground is extremely fertile for urban unrest,” he said in a text message.

Asked if he meant people were taking the law into their own hands, he replied: “That’s what happened the last time.”

“There was no death squad but several. Like the resistance movement during the last world war, like Charles Bronson in the movie “Death Wish”, like those IS (Islamic State) fanatics recruited by social media, like people all over the Philippines (who) voted for a guy who said that all the drug lords must die,” he said.

In 2004, Osmeña formed the Hunter Team, an elite police unit, to go after crime suspects in response to the series of robbery-killings that hit the city.

But from 2004 to 2006, crime suspects were killed vigilante-style. Newspaper reports counted 168 victims but no one was brought to court for lack of witnesses and complainants.

The fear of getting killed by vigilantes reached the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

Marco Toral, jail consultant of CPDRC, said some inmates were worried about their safety once they were released from jail. RAM/rga