AMBUSH

By NITZ ARANCON with JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondents .

TWO motorcycleiding gunmen shot an official of Camp Alagar during a daring broad daylight ambush staged at the capitol compound yesterday morning.

Police identified the victim as Supt. Michael John Deloso, deputy chief of the Regional  Police Strategic Management Unit at Camp Alagar. Deloso once held key positions in the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) where he served as spokesman and subsequently, as traffic division deputy director, a position he lost after he and a subordinate were arrested for alleged extortion during an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in 2014.

Deloso was ambushed at around 9:45 am at the corner of A. Luna Street and the road leading to the capitol, in front of a building that was once used by the Regional Trial Court of Misamis Oriental. The area is part of the capitol compound.

Supt. Surki Sereñas, Camp Alagar spokesman, said  Deloso was still conscious when he was rushed to the nearby Northern Mindanao Medical Center where surgeons removed at least four bullets that pierced through his body. Deloso, struggling for life, is in the operating room as of presstime.

“Conscious man hino-on siya pero critical pa gihapon ang iyang kahimtang kay ti-aw mo nang upat ka bala ang nakuha sa iyang lawas,” Sereñas said.

One photo showed a bullet hole in Deloso’s left cheek and there are reports he also sustained a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Supt. Mardy Hortillosa, Cocpo spokesman, said the two gunmen, based on witnesses’ accounts, rode a motorcycle and wore masks. They riddled Deloso’s vans with bullets.

He said investigators were still facing a blank wall as they continued to search for clues and get information. Police immediately launched operations in the hope of catching suspects.

At the crime scene, police found 25 empty bullet shells from caliber .45  and 9mm pistols.

Hortillosa said investigators were checking if there were security camera systems in the area that may have recorded the ambush.

One witness, a worker in the area, said he saw one of the assailants using what looked to him like an Uzi submachine gun. He said the the gunmen rode a “Mio” motorcycle, wore black jackets and masks. The driver, he said, did not wear a crash helmet.

“Dayon mikanaug dayon tong nakaangkas ug ginamit ang Uzi mipusil sa driver. Milibot siya sa luyo ug pusil na pud. Unya miadto sa atubangan ug namusil na pud,” the witness said.

He said the gunmen then fled, he said.

An hour later, residents of Barangay 26 found a mysterious black jacket left behind by man on a parked motorcycle near the corner of CM Recto Avenue and Osmena Street.

A resident said, “Nakita nako ang maong tawo nga miagpas og hubo sa iyang itum nga jacket dayon mipara og taxi unya misakay.”

The said jacket is now at the custody of  the police investigators.

In a statement, Camp Alagar said, “It is still too early to conclude about the motive as the pursuit operation and follow-up investigation are ongoing.”

Mayor Oscar Moreno quickly condemned the ambush and said the gun attack was a blow to efforts at keeping the city peaceful. He called the ambush a “barbaric” act.

Moreno called on police authorities, the NBI and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to start a no-nonsense investigation into the ambush, identify, build a strong case and arrest the suspects so they could be tried in court.

“We pray and we hope that Colonel Deloso will recover  fully and speedily and we expect nga ma-identify ang suspects so that they will be brought to justice,” Moreno said.

Deloso figured in a controversy in 2014 when he and a subordinate, SPO3 Ernesto Galleto, were arrested during an entrapment staged by the NBI in a local hotel after they allegedly received an envelope of cash from a lawyer. They were accused of extorting from lawyer Ernie Palanan, then the president of the Xavier Heights Jeepney Operators’ and Drivers’ Association Inc. (XHJODAI).

On Dec 17, 2016, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Deloso and Galleto for gross misconduct.

Deloso however was reinstated in May after the ombudsman reversed its decision to dismiss the police official and Galleto in April.