By Jennifer P. Rendon
On his first day of office as the new Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) chief, Colonel Eric Dampal has one special task to surmount: solve the killing of businessman Delfin Britanico.
“Solve the Britanico (case),” Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, ordered Dampal during the turnover of command ceremony yesterday.
Pamuspusan publicly said that the new ICPO commander could use all the resources of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 in order to solve the case.
More than two weeks ago, PRO-6 has formed a dedicated team to run after Britanico’s killers.
The team was created after Delfin’s father, former Banat Partylist Rep. Salvador “Buddy” Britanico, solicited the help of President Rodrigo Duterte.
At that time, Pamuspusan already said they considered Britanico’s killing a significant case, thus, the creation of the special investigation task group (SITG) which was previously led by Police Colonel Martin Defensor Sr, former Iloilo City police chief.
Dampal will have to work with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory Office 6 (RCLO)-6 in cracking the murder case.
Former congressman Britanico has appealed to witnesses to testify against his son’s assailants.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recently conducted a re-enactment of Britanico’s death.
Britanico, 36, was gunned down by unidentified suspects on board a car at Barangay Nabitasan, La Paz, Iloilo City on Jan 19, 2020.
The only breakthrough in the case so far is the discovery that the same firearms may have been used in the killings of Britanico and Alain Muller, who was also murdered half an hour before the former.
Police initially claimed the incident may have been the result of a traffic altercation or road rage.
But reports pointed to the possibility that the victim could have unintentionally witnessed Muller’s killing.
He could have taken a video of the suspects as they were speeding off. The road altercation happened after Muller’s killers forced Britanico to hand over his mobile phone.
Another angle in Britanico’s case is business as he operates a laundry chain while his spouse’s family was into hauling.
A SPECIAL CASE
Since late 2018, the Iloilo City has been rocked with several killings, mostly perpetrated by riding-in-tandem gunmen.
Almost all of these killings remain unsolved and happened in broad daylight.
Unlike Britanico who was a businessman, majority of the victims were involved in illegal drugs.
But what makes Britanico’s case special that it merited the creation of an SITG?
Pamuspusan said there’s no pressure from the family. Instead, he said the pressure came from him to solve the murder case, which happened in broad daylight.
As to the other murder incidents, “I’m sure nabibigyan din ‘yan ng pansin ng mga imbestigador natin. They’re also doing their best to solve other killings,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dampal said he has yet to be briefed on the Britanico case, but he assured he would immediately look into it.
