MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) has tasked Police Regional Office 10 (PRO-10) to investigate the sudden death of former Ozamiz City councilor Ricardo “Ardot” Parojinog inside the detention cell of Ozamiz City Police Station on Friday.
PRO-10 chief Police Brigadier General Rolando Anduyan said he received orders from Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan to investigate Parojinog’s death and to determine if he had prior illness.
Cascolan has also ordered Anduyan to place the Ozamiz City police chief and all the night shift police personnel of the station under restrictive custody pending a probe on the incident.
“Hanggang ngayon iniimbestigahan natin. Baka mamaya anong sakit ‘yung mayroon siya hindi natin alam kasi nanggaling siya diyan sa Manila,” Anduyan said in an interview with DZBB.
“Kasama sa imbestigasyon natin ‘yan. ‘Yun din ang tinatanong ko sa mga tao natin, inaalagaan din natin ‘yan kasi medyo kilalang tao ‘yan. Hindi natin alam kung nalulungkot siya siyempre sa kaso na inabot niya, medyo matamlay noong dumating…” he added.
Anduyan said a jail guard was trying to wake Parojinog up but he was unresponsive. Authorities immediately called a medical team to attend to Parojinog, who arrived in Ozamis City detention from PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame last Thursday.
“Actually iniimbestigahan pa natin ‘yan. Alam niyo naman ‘yung panahon ngayon, medyo ano tayo, iba ang panahon ngayon… noong kaninang umaga, ginigising siya noong kaniyang ano, bantay ng selda, eh noong hindi siya magising, hindi siya responsive, tumawag na tayo ng medical teams para magresponde sa kaniya,” Anduyan said.
Parojinog, who is facing murder, illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of explosives charges, was deported to the Philippines in July 2018, two months after his arrest in Taiwan where he fled following the police raid on the clan’s compound, which killed his brother, former mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr./PN
