Troubled by the killings of two Manila Police District policemen in two months, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has ordered the MPD to speed up the arrest of their killers.
Estrada said it is the moral duty of the city government to bring justice to the families of PO2 Abdul Jabbar Alonto and PO1 Jorsan Marie Alfariz, who the mayor said “have served the city well” as members of “Manila’s Finest.”
“We owe it to their families. Our law enforcers risk their lives to protect us, to protect the city. In exchange for their sacrifices, we should at least bring closure to these killings and capture those cop killers,” Estrada said.
Alonto, 36, was shot dead in Paco last Monday, May 15, by two men on a motorcycle.
On March 19, Alfariz, who was barely two years in the service, was shot dead 16 times by still unidentified attackers as she was driving her car at the corner of Recto Avenue and Rizal Avenue.
Alonto was a member of the MPD’s Intelligence Division, while Alfariz was assigned to the Barbosa Police Station.
On the case of Alonto, MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel said they are looking into two possible motives: “rido” or clan war, and work-related.
Rido is a clan conflict common in Mindanao, and is characterized by sporadic outbursts of retaliatory violence between families and kinship groups, as well as between communities.
The slain intelligence policeman hailed from Marawi City “where he is a member of a very prominent family in conflict with another clan,” according to Coronel.
“I understand his family is also (involved)… there seems to be a ‘rido’ going back to Mindanao…This is the strongest reason,” the MPD chief added.
On the other hand, Coronel said Alfariz’ killing could be connected to her anti-drug work, especially with her recent arrest of a big-time drug personality.
Two brothers, Jefferson and Gerald Li, who were earlier considered as “persons of interest,” have surfaced to deny involvement in the killing. But a few days after the lady cop’s ambush, the brothers were shot by two motorcycle-riding gunmen, killing Jefferson.