Consistent with previous surveys, a Pulse Asia poll taken in December last year showed the country divided on the truthfulness of police accounts of drug suspects being shot dead after resisting arrest or nanlaban.

Similar doubts have been raised in the deaths of two men described by arresting officers as self-confessed contract killers. Members of the Manila Police District claimed they were transporting Apolonio Flores and Prince Patrick Cortez back to their detention cells when at least eight gunmen on four motorcycles waylaid their police car at the corner of Lacson and Fajardo streets in Manila at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 26. The gunmen allegedly ordered Police Officer 2 Mark Delima and another cop out of the car, disarmed them, and then opened fire on Flores and Cortez – through the rolled up window of the patrol car. Were the gunmen testing if the window was bulletproof?

Apparently, the cops saw little risk that self-confessed hit men might flee: the two fatalities sat in the back of the police car by themselves without handcuffs.

The story has raised suspicions that the two were summarily executed. Instead of the standard story about the fatalities resisting arrest, however, we now have a story about an ambush by unidentified assailants.

It’s possible that the cops are telling the truth – which should also scare the public as much as the prospect of cops carrying out summary execution. If gunmen can ambush a police car in Manila and kill suspects in their custody on a busy weekday afternoon, how can the public be safe?

One positive aspect in this case is that the two policemen and their immediate superior have been suspended by the Philippine National Police leadership while the case is under investigation. PNP officials have also reassured the public that there is a continuing purge of misfits in the organization, and that cops are committed to carrying out their duties in accordance with the law.

Public support is critical in effective law enforcement. That support is based on trust in the police. And that trust is undermined when those tasked to enforce the law become lawbreakers.