Cop, once bodyguard of slain politician,  killed in ambush outside police camp

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — A policeman who served as a close-in bodyguard of the slain Misamis Occidental town mayor, was killed in an ambush here on Saturday afternoon.

The incident happened just outside Camp Alagar, the regional police headquarters located in Lapasan village.

Cagayan de Oro police spokesperson Major Evan Viñas said Police Officer 1 Roy Aguas was bound for home aboard his motorcycle when the suspects followed him along C.M. Recto Avenue at half-past 4 p.m.

Viñas said the suspects opened fire at Aguas as soon as they got near him, killing the policeman instantly.

“The suspects also took the service firearm of the victim before they fled,” Viñas further said.

Viñas said Aguas, 40, was assigned at the Regional Headquarters Support Group.

He said investigators are pursuing the possibility that the killing was linked to Aguas’ being the close-in bodyguard of the late Mayor David Navarro of Clarin, Misamis Occidental.

Navarro was killed in an ambush a few meters away from the Provincial Capitol in Cebu City last Oct. 25, 2019.

He was on the “narco-list” put out by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.

Viñas said Aguas was dismissed as a police officer in 2018 for “serious administrative offenses.”

He said Navarro reportedly interceded on behalf of Aguas that led to his return to the police service in 2019.

Viñas said the police regional office did not assign Aguas to Clarin town or to Navarro, but instead put him with the Regional Headquarters Support Group.