CEBU CITY — A village councilor survived an assassination attempt early on Monday and his bodyguards were able to kill one of the assailants — an antidrug police officer.

An accomplice of the officer, an antidrug asset, was arrested.

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Jesselou Cadungog, village councilor of Tejero, was unhurt and sought the help of Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the National Bureau of Investigation.

He was riding a Toyota FJ Cruiser when the assailant, PO3 Eugene Alcain Calumba, drove his motorcycle near the councilor’s P3-million vehicle and opened fire.

Cadungog’s bodyguards returned fire, killing Calumba, a member of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Parian Police Station in the city.

His alleged accomplice, Michael Banua, a police asset, was arrested.

Twist

The story took a bizarre twist when the Central Visayas police sought to turn the tables on Cadungog, saying it was the village official and his bodyguards who attacked Calumba.

Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, head of the Central Visayas police, ordered the arrest of Cadungog and his bodyguards for allegedly attacking Calumba.

Sinas said Calumba was the victim and Banua witnessed the attack on the policeman.

Sinas’ declaration prompted Cadungong to seek protection from the NBI Central Visayas office.

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“Why am I the suspect now when I was supposed to be the target of an assassination plot?” he said.

Cops involved

Cadungog comes from a village being monitored for drugs.

A gun registered to him had been recovered from SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, who was killed by policemen in Tagbilaran City when he tried to resist arrest for involvement in the drug trade in Bohol province.

The failed assassination of Cadungog could be the second such case involving a policeman as the suspected assassin.

Early this month, PO2 Melvin Mocorro was briefly jailed in Iloilo City after he was tagged by another policeman, PO1 Dorben Acap, as the one who tried to kill him.

Acap was suspected of involvement in drugs.

Cadungog said he earlier received a text message saying he would be the next assassination target. This prompted him to change his routine, Cadungog said.

So on Monday, Cadungog said he asked his bodyguards to drop him off near the village hall and he would just walk.

But a few minutes after Cadungog was dropped off, two men on a motorcycle drove up to his side, according to one of Cadungog’s aides who asked not to be identified for security reasons.

Saved from mob

When the aide noticed that one of the men on the motorcycle was pulling a gun, he shot at the man who turned out to be Calumba.

Banua, an anticrime volunteer who was driving the motorcycle, managed to run but village guards and bystanders caught him and beat him up.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor on police matters, who was in the area, said he responded to the commotion.

Tumulak said he saved Banua from the mob and brought him to a hospital.

After Banua was treated, Tumulak said he was bringing the suspect to the regional NBI office when Senior Insp. Joemar Pomajeros, chief of the Waterfront Police Station, intervened and said Banua should be brought to Pomajeros’ office for “recording.”

Surprised

Tumulak said he was surprised when Pomajeros grabbed Banua and brought him to the Central Visayas office of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

“Why are they doing this? I was the arresting officer so to speak and yet the police got one of the suspects,” Tumulak said.

“There should have been a proper turnover,” he added.

Only witness

Sinas, the regional police chief, went to the CIDG office, talked to Banua and later told reporters that Banua was not a suspect but a “witness” in the crime.

Sinas said Cadungog was the primary suspect in the killing of Calumba. Calumba, Sinas said, was conducting surveillance operations in Tejero.

Sinas ordered a manhunt for Cadungog. “For now, Cadungog is our suspect. He was the gunman because he owns the vehicle,” Sinas said.

Banua, the police director said, would not face any charge. “I have to protect my only witness in the crime,” Sinas said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña expressed disgust over Sinas’ version of the case.

“This is ridiculous. Now we know the truth,” Osmeña said.

“The police are very much involved in these crimes. I suspect that is what’s happening in the city right now,” he said.

“The suspect here is the police, not Cadungog,” the mayor said.

“He was ambushed and now there’s a manhunt for him? I don’t know what to say. I don’t have the answers but I don’t like what’s happening and the police are clearly the suspect. I don’t think they are immune from public scrutiny,” he added.

If police would insist that Cadungog was the suspect, Osmeña said police would be “lying through their teeth.”

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