A polic OFFICER who was no stranger to controversy was gunned down by unidentified men in Muntinlupa City on Saturday evening.
Chief Insp. Ernesto Eco Jr., a resident of the city, was stuck in traffic inside his sport utility vehicle on National National Road, Barangay Poblacion, at 8 p.m. Saturday when he was shot repeatedly by motorcycle-riding men.
Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, Southern Police District (SPD) director, said that the victim, who died from multiple gunshot wounds, was supposed to be in Maguindanao following his reassignment to the province several months ago.
Gone AWOL?
He added that the SPD was still verifying whether Eco reported to his new post or went AWOL (absent without official leave).
The 39-year-old officer’s police career was marked by several controversies which landed him in the news.
In January 2015, Eco was assigned to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Holding Administrative Unit when he told reporters that policemen assigned to secure Pope Francis during his visit to Manila had yet to get their P2,400 meal allowance.
His claim was contrary to the statement of the Philippine National Police that it had already released the money for distribution.
The NCRPO chief at that time, Director Carlos Valmoria, ordered Eco investigated for airing his grievances in public instead of taking it up with his superiors. He was then ordered transferred to the Northern Police District.
Eco was previously with the SPD before his reassignment to the NCRPO Holding Administrative Unit due to several complaints from businessmen.
Another investigation
In April 2015, Valmoria again ordered Eco probed on allegations that he was one of the coddlers of a Pasay barangay chair who had just been arrested for murder at that time.
Also ordered investigated was the head of the Pasay police then, Senior Supt. Rodolfo Llorca.
The two policemen were accused of protecting Borbie Rivera, chair of Barangay 112, who was charged with murdering a man. The case against Rivera would be dismissed the following year.
However, on Aug. 5 this year, Rivera was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men at the entrance of a mall in Las Piñas City.
At the time he was killed, Rivera was a member of the Pasay City council as president of the Liga ng mga Barangay.
Before he died, Rivera had been recovering from the injuries he sustained after he was shot outside a bar in Pasay City two months earlier.
Police investigators, meanwhile, said that they were still trying to determine the identity of Eco’s killers as well as their motive.
Eco’s previous posts included heading the Muntinlupa police’s Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit and the Pasay police Special Operations Unit. —With a report from Erika Sauler