CRIME SCENE. Scene of the crime operatives of the Negros Occidental Police Crime Laboratory investigate the Reclamation Area of Pontevedra, Negros Occidental where Staff Sgt. Ildefonso Casugod, 37, the town police intelligence officer, was shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants on Tuesday morning (Dec. 22, 2020). Capt. Hancel Lumandaz, town police officer-in-charge, said Casugod was hit on the head and declared dead at Bago City Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Pontevedra Municipal Police Station)
BACOLOD CITY – A member of Pontevedra Municipal Police in Negros Occidental was shot dead by one of the two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle at the southern town’s reclamation area on Tuesday morning.
The victim was identified as Staff Sgt. Ildefonso Casugod, 37, the station’s intelligence officer.
Capt. Hancel Lumandaz, town police officer-in-charge, said Casugod was hit on the head and declared dead at Bago City Hospital after the incident around 6 a.m., which happened in the presence of Mayor Jose Maria Alonzo.
He said the initial investigation will focus on work-related angle since Casugod might have stepped on someone’s toes while conducting intelligence operations.
“When you are assigned in intelligence, you are working (to arrest) the drug lords, the drug dealers. He also arrests the most wanted, wanted persons, and those involved in illegal gambling, and implements search warrants,” Lumandaz said in a radio interview.
Lumandaz said one of the perpetrators, whose face was covered with a mask, fired at Casugod while the other served both as lookout and driver.
He added that the victim rode a bicycle going to the Reclamation Area, and when he arrived, Casugod saw the mayor and went to him.
The victim was walking with Alonzo, the mayor’s bodyguard Ramon Bringuelo, and Senior Fire Officer 2 Edmund Catas, town OIC fire marshal, when the gunman with a .45 caliber pistol fired at him.
“Napakasipag at napakabait na pulis po,” (He was such a hardworking and kind policeman),” Lumandaz said of Casugod, who left behind three children, with his common-law wife. (PNA)
