THE Cagayan de Oro City Police Office on Wednesday denied that the case on the Dec. 2, 2017 murder of Dr. Ricardo Rotoras has been closed, and that the special investigation task group handling the case has been dissolved.
The statement, ordered released by city police director Senior Supt. Nelson Aganon, was drafted by Cocpo spokesman Supt. Mardy Hortillosa II who, incidentally, is the same official who repeatedly asserted and maintained that the Rotoras case was considered closed with the arrest and filing of a case against suspected gun-for-hire Johnreal Gamanay. Hortillosa was quoted as stating that the case was considered closed by competing newspapers in the city as early as February.
In Cocpo’s statement, dated May 1 but posted on the Facebook chatgroup “PRO-10 PIO News Update” on Wednesday, Aganon was quoted as saying that the Rotoras case was never closed, and that the Special Investigation Task Group Rotoras was never dissolved.
Cocpo clarified: “The statements that Cocpo released were based on the guidelines that once the suspect/s was/were arrested and appropriate charges were filed in court which is considered solved does (sic) not necessarily mean that Cocpo already closed the case.”
Cocpo said investigators were still investigating and gathering evidence against the mastermind and others involved in the murder of the president of the stateun University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines in December last year.
But Cocpo said it was planning to re-evaluate the evidence and circumstances in order to find a way to file a case against the possible mastermind and others involved in the killing.
Cocpo also stated that members of the special investigations task group “should be re-organized” given the “movement” or new assignments of members of the group.
“Cocpo would like to ask [for] the understanding of the [Rotoras] family and the public…,” reads part of the statement.
It said the delay in solving the case was due to the difficulties in gathering evidence “though all efforts had been applied already.” (cbc)
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