Hailed by Governor Edgar Chatto as the “modern heroes for Bohol’s fight against illegal drugs”, four police officers who sacrificed their lives in the service of the Boholanos were not forgotten during an anti-illegal drug rally at the Carlos P. Garcia (CPG) Sports Complex.
Police Chief Inspector George Cana, Senior Police Officer 1 Roel Romagos, Senior Police Officer 1 Herminigildo Abella and Police Officer 1 Michael John Ejoc were killed by suspected members of drug syndicates operating in the province.
The occasion was the culmination of an anti-illegal campaign rally “Batukan ta ang droga, Gubaton ta ang durugista” undertaken by the PNP-Bohol, Diocese of Tagbilaran, Provincial Government of Bohol and the City of Tagbilaran.
Police chiefs from the 47 towns and one city marched from the PNP Headquarters in Camp Dagohoy to the CPG Sports Complex, together with 5 drug personalities from their areas who voluntarily gave themselves to police authorities, heeding the call to mend their ways.
Chatto called on all sectors of the community not to leave the fight against illegal drugs solely on the police authorities, but should be a unified commitment against the menace of society.
Bohol Police Provincial Director, Police Senior Superintendent Felipe Natividad rallied the Boholanos to put up a united front to minimize or totally rid the province of illegal drugs.
Cana, Chief of Police of the Ubay Police Station was ambushed by assailants riding in two cars while on his way home in Barangay Balintawak, Talibon, early evening on June 7, 2014.
Romagos who was then the officer-in-charge of the Danao Police Station was shot and killed by two men on board a motorcycle in Barangay Sta. Fe, Danao on the evening of April 29, 2014.
Abella was also waylaid by suspected hit men in Inabanga on April, 2013.
Ejoc was killed during a raid on a suspected drug den in Franklin St., Tagbilaran city wounding two other police officers on August 22, 2014.
The anti-illegal drug rally gathered more than a thousand participants who voiced their solidarity behind the government’s illegal drug campaign. (Chito M. Visarra and Rey Tutas)