A former cop who was reported to the Office of the President through Hotline 8888 for alleged involvement in the drug trade was shot dead by police officers after allegedly resisting arrest when he was subjected to drug sting in Buenavista town on Thursday morning.
Captain Gereon Item of the Bohol police Provincial Intelligence Branch identified the fatality as former Patrolman Kevin Hubac, 36, a high-value drug target at the provincial level.
Item said that Hubac noticed that he was transacting with an undercover cop prompting him to shoot at the police during the operation at the suspect’s residence in Barangay Asinan.
He was able to shoot once before his .45 caliber pistol jammed and police returned fire and fatally shot him.
None of the police operatives were injured during the brief shootout while Hubac was still rushed to the Francisco Dagohoy Municipal Hospital in Inabanga, but was declared dead on arrival.
Police found in his possession a .45 caliber pistol loaded with two live rounds and shabu estimated to be worth P157,760.
Buenavista police chief Captain Rico Emperwa said that Hubac was reported to Hotline 8888, which in turn alerted the municipal police.
In a complaint ticket forwarded to local authorities, the Office of the President through the Citizens’ Complaint Hotline called for the concerned agency, which in that case was the Bohol police and the Buenavista Police Station, to take “appropriate action” on the issue.
The complaint was sent to the hotline on June 21, 2019.
According to Item, Hubac went AWOL sometime in 2012. He was deployed to the Police Regional Office 7’s Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit while he underwent investigation for alleged drug use but stopped reporting for work before he was found guilty and ordered dismissed.
Hubac has long been monitored for involvement in the drug trade after he left the police force but he was able to flee the province and go to Mindanao to lay low.
He returned to Bohol last year and allegedly resumed his illegal drug operation.
“Pirmiro siguro gagmay-gamya pa ni, unja karon midako [operation] tungod kay kursunada kay kanhi pulis man,” Item said.
According to Item, Hubac was also linked with the Torregosa Robbery Group which operated out of nearby Getafe town.
“Didto sa Getafe ang Torregosa Group pero mao ra ni silang grupoha,” he said.
Hubac was allegedly with Virgelio Torregosa, alleged leader of the Torregosa Robbery Group when the latter was collared in a police raid in Barangay Campao Oriental, Getafe in November. Hubac however was able to flee. (with a report from W. Maestrado)