ILOILO City – Seven members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were behind the killing of a police officer in Barangay Teniente Benito, Tubungan, Iloilo on June 15, according to the Tubungan police station.
They would be charged with murdering Police Master Sergeant Arnel Paurillo, 42, of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s (IPPO) Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, said Police Lieutenant Jose Rommel Samson, Tubungan police chief.
Witnesses identified the seven, and the murder charge would be filed this week, he told Panay News.
Paurillo was shot to death at around 9:30 p.m. at the house of friend Rodolfo Talamillo while waiting for two police officers from the Tubungan police station to plan an anti-drug operation.
Samson said armed men suddenly entered the compound then two of them shot the policeman several times.
The suspects introduced themselves as members of the NPA.
“Three of the four suspects were wearing facemasks,” said Samson.
Responding policemen recovered spent bullet shells of a .45 pistol and .9mm pistol from the crime scene.
Paurillo was really the target, said Samson, pointing out that the armed men did not harm Talamillo.
The IPPO and Police Regional Office 6 condemned the killing.
“We are deeply saddened by the death of Master Sergeant Paurillo in the course of fulfilling his duty to enforce the law and fight criminality,” said IPPO director Police Colonel Paul Kenneth Lucas./PN
