Mistaken identity, grudge eyed in ambush
By ROGER M. BALANZA
Police probers are pursuing two angles in the Wednesday killing in Davao City of a government doctor: personal grudge or mistaken identity.
Dr. Rogelio “Bong” Peñera, 45, head of the Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Resu) of the Department of Health (DOH) Southern Mindanao, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen around 6:30PM while driving home with his daughter aboard near his house in Cabantian, Buhangin. His daughter survived the attack with a slight wound in the arms.
Penera, a low-profile government doctor thrust in the limelight as the government chief campaigner on the swine flu public awareness information drive, is known to have no enemies.
The police here has formed Task Force Penera to look into the killing carried out in the manner of the summary killings by the Davao Death Squad. The killers, credited by human rights groups here as responsible for extrajudicial executions of petty criminals and suspected drug users and pushers numbering more than 800 since 1998 in Davao City alone, is at the center of an investigation by the Commission on Human Rights.
Task Force Penera head Antonio Rivera, chief of the Investigation Detection Section of the Davao City Police Office said while personal grudge is emerging as potential motive, probers are also looking the angle of mistaken identity.
Filed under: POLICE BEAT, davao city | Tagged: davao death squad, rogelio bong penera, summary execution
