President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered the Philippine National Police to halt all its investigations on the ambush of Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro, as he floated suspicions that the police themselves were involved in the killing.
Duterte said the PNP should let the National Bureau of Investigation take over to ensure fairness.
“I’d like the NBI to have it. So it will be fair. I’d like to order PNP to terminate and hand it to the NBI whatever proof they had,” Duterte told Palace reporters.
“What did the PNP do? Maybe they were the ones who killed him. They’re the ones who were near him,” he added.
On Friday, Navarro was killed while inside a police van on his way to the Cebu city prosecutor's office for inquest proceedings over an assault complaint.
Gunmen blocked the police convoy, ordered Navarro to get out of the vehicle, then shot the mayor dead, authorities said.
Duterte confirmed that Navarro, whom he called his “supporter,” met with him two months before his death and told him that “someone is out to get him.”
Navarro was previously included in Duterte’s list of government officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.