NBI, CHR start probe of Navarro murder

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) have launched separate probes into the killing of Mayor David Navarro of Clarin, Misamis Occidental, on Oct. 25 here.

Dominador Cimafranca, NBI-7 assistant director, said personnel from central office would help in the investigation.

They would also be coordinating with the NBI offices in Mindanao to interview the Navarro family members for their accounts on the incident.

Interview

“We will coordinate with the family because the family is part of the convoy,” Cimafranca said.

The NBI-7 officials were at the Cebu City police on Tuesday to secure the pieces of evidence, including the video footage of seven security cameras.

The CHR had started talking with the victim’s family, according to investigator Leo Villarino. “We have established contacts with the family. But we cannot divulge, in the meantime, what we have talked about with the family,” he said.

Villarino said the CHR central office had ordered the regional office to look into the killing especially that it was another case of “death while under police custody.”

He said they welcomed the move to transfer the investigation from the police to the NBI amid suspicion that policemen were behind the killing.

Navarro was gunned down in Barangay Guadalupe here while being transported by the police to the Cebu City prosecutor’s office on Oct. 25. At least four masked men armed with high-powered firearms reportedly dragged Navarro out of the police car and fired at him.

The mayor was arrested by the police in uptown Cebu City.