The law enforcement created a task force Sunday that would investigate all possible motives, including illegal drug operation, the killing of a barangay chief in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City, Saturday night.
City police chief Col. Dario Menor formed a special investigation task force to find possible witnesses who could give further information about the murder of Barangay 151, Bagong Barrio, Caloocan chair Douglas Dilao.
According to the reports of Caloocan City Police Station, Dilao and her partner Joanne were walking along Progreso Street when five unidentified suspects shot him. The woman was unharmed from the attack. The two came from a birthday celebration of another barangay official.
Police said the gunmen were aboard three motorcycles, which they also used to flee from the crime scene.
Dilao, who was a long-time ally, Mayor Oscar Malapitan, was declared dead on arrival at Manila Central University Hospital due to multiple gunshots to the body.
Malapitan offered a P250,000 bounty for any information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects.
Investigators said the closed-circuit television installed in the crime scene was not working at the time of the attack.
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Meanwhile, a police official who asked not to be named said Dilao’s murder could be connected to the illegal drug trade in Bagong Barrio.
The police officer was previously assigned in Caloocan and had been involved in the war on drugs campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte since 2016. He said reports were linking Dilao in illegal drug activities such as protecting drug personalities in his barangay, specifically his relatives.
A grandson of Dilao was previously arrested on drug charges, he cop added.
Investigators said a nephew of the barangay official was also arrested in 2017 for alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
“But we cannot make any conclusion until such time that we have gathered enough evidence. We cannot speculate that the killing was drug-related until were have concluded the probe,” Menor said.