Alleged involvement of bribe money in MPD shooting may be investigated –Eleazar

Philippine National Police chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar on Monday said that investigators may follow up on allegations that bribe money was involved in the shooting incident in the Manila Police District (MPD) headquarters.

In a press conference, Eleazar was asked for verification that the alleged shooter, Police Executive Master Sergeant Reynante Dipasupil, was reprimanded for not remitting supposed bribe money to his district director.

“'Yan ay puwedeng imbestigahan pero lahat ito ay puro daw,” Elazar said.

(That can be investigated but all of these are just allegations.)

However, Eleazar emphasized that despite all the allegations being made against police officers, these policemen still deserved due process.

The PNP chief also pointed out that Dipasupil had died and left a family behind.

He thus encouraged those who made the allegations to surface and coordinate with authorities so that the information can be used in the investigation.

Sought for comment, MPD chief  Brigadier General Leo Francisco told GMA News Online that he did not know and had not personally met Dipasupil.

“Di ko kilala at ‘di ko pa nakikita nang personal si Dipasupil simula nang mag-DD (district director) ako dito,” he said in a text message.

Two police officers were killed Friday night, including Dipasupil who allegedly started indiscriminately shooting inside the MPD headquarters.

The other fatality was identified as Police Executive Master Seargent Romeo Cantal while Police Staff Sergeant Reynaldo Cordova was injured.

Dipasupil was not on duty but he insisted on retrieving a weapon from his office.

Based on the initial investigation, Dipasupil fired a weapon once, then went to the ground floor. The suspect then fired at Francisco’s office.

“Una pumasok siya sa Office of the Director. Kaya lang may mga naka-duty ako doon, so ang ginawa niya, binaril niya ‘yung salamin ng Office of the Director. So wala naman ako kanina,” Francisco said.

[First, he went to the Office of the Director. But I had on-duty officers there, so what he did was he fired at the office's glass partition. I was not there at that time.]

Authorities are looking into the motive for the crime.

Dipasupil, meanwhile, was taken to hospital but succumbed to his wounds. — DVM, GMA News