SULTAN SA BARONGIS, Maguindanao—Police’s illegal drugs tag on the slain former vice mayor of this town drew flak from kin and friends reacting in protest of the label on social media.
The family of the slain former vice mayor of this town also wanted an impartial investigation into his killing Saturday night, after the local police said he was linked to illegal drugs.
The victim Roger Mamalo, 63, had retired from local politics and had since become a heart patient, according to his daughter Bai Aga Mamalo.
Police said Mamalo was waylaid by gunmen as he drove towards his residence in Purok Golden Duranta, Barangay New Isabela in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat at 8:00 pm on Saturday.
The victim’s son Nurie Mamalo, a municipal councilor here, said he had communicated with the Region 12 Police Office in General Santos City to verify a report that police had linked his father to illegal drugs, after his killing.
On Sunday, a report by Bombo Radyo implicating Mamalo in alleged drugs-watch list drew flak on social media, from among kin and residents, many of them Christians, who said they knew better the Muslim former vice mayor of this town.
The Bombo Radyo quoted P/Supt. Joefel Siason, city police director of Tacurong City, as saying it appeared in the initial police investigation that “the name of ex-Vice Mayor Mamalo is linked to illegal drugs.”
Councilor Mamalo said his mother Monira Mamalo would be appearing to verify and set the records straight with the PNP-RO 12 in the company of a lawyer.
The family said Mamalo had been informed by a neighbor who saw his name on a list of persons petitioned for issuance of arrest or search warrants in a court in Kidapawan City, which had also issued a search warrant in the neighbor’s name.
The victim’s family said Mamalo had voluntarily appeared to check with the regional office of the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency, if indeed he was in the government’s list of targets of anti-illegal drugs operations. But their father’s name was not in the PDEA list, they said.
Mamalo was scheduled to travel to Davao for a flight to Manila supposed to be on Sunday to verify further with the PDEA national office, but he was shot dead the night before.
“If he didn’t indulge in smoking or drinking in most of his lifetime, how else could he be involved in illegal drugs? He lived so humbly as you can see his house here is not even made of concrete materials and has no fence. Meaning, he didn’t even think about having an enemy,” a friend of Mamalo told visitors to his funeral rites.
The family said the government should probe the possible existence of “multiple lists,” because they were confident his name was not in the one being brandished by President Rodrigo Duterte.
They also expressed apologies for the “inconvenience” generated by dozens of reactions on social media, apparently against the way the murder of their father was reported by Bombo Radyo, saying “some unkind words” resulted from sheer outrage.