PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde has ordered the relief of four police personnel involved in the drug bust in Cebu City that led to the death of four-year-old Bladen Skyler Abatayo.
All four Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) operatives involved in the operation were also ordered to surrender their firearms for ballistic examination even as a paraffin test conducted on them turned out to be negative.
"This means that the four DEU operatives have not fired their handguns hence, may not have been responsible for the death of Skyler," PNP spokesperson Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana said in a statement issued late Friday, July 13.
Durana said a manhunt has been launched to track down four drug suspects, one of whom was believed to have fired his handgun as they escaped.
In his statement, Durana said Albayalde ordered Police Regional Office Central Visayas director Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas to relieve the policemen involved.
Durana also said the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) and Scene of the Crime Operatives in Central Visayas were "collaborating to put all the pieces together" to identify the culprit.
The boy, who was studying in his room, was hit by a stray bullet during a drug bust conducted by the four Cebu City DEU men in Barangay Ermita on Tuesday, July 10.
Durana assured that an impartial investigation was being conducted by the IAS and that appropriate administrative and criminal charges would be filed against the personnel found liable for the boy's death.
"We express our deepest condolences to the bereaved family of Skyler Abatayo as we assure them that an impartial investigation by the PNP Internal Affairs Service is now being conducted in order to get to the bottom of this unfortunate incident," he stated.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director Senior Superintendent Royina Garma earlier said her men called off their operation to go after four drug suspects and rushed the boy to the Cebu City Medical Center in an attempt to save his life. (JOB and VoxPop Philippines)