3 motives seen in Bacolod brgy ‘kagawad’ slay


BACOLOD City – Police are looking into three possible motives in the killing of 33-year-old village councilman Romeo Canlas Jr.

As of now, there are no persons of interest in Canlas’ murder, said Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico, spokesperson Bacolod City Police Office.

“But police investigators are looking at three angles,” he added.

The first angle, Pico said, was illegal drugs.

He revealed that Canlas – a resident of Barangay 2 – had been included in Police Station 2’s drugs watchlist since 2018.

But they would not automatically conclude that this was the reason behind the killing, said Pico.

The incident may have been sparked, too, by a personal grudge or politics, particularly since the victim was the neighborhood’s top kagawad.

Canlas was shot to death by unidentified men while having a drinking session with Barangay 26 councilman Reno Delarna in the latter’s residential compound around 9:25 p.m. on Saturday.

On Monday, Police Station 4 commander, Major Reynante Jomocan, released details from Canlas’ “post-mortem” report that showed he sustained a total of nine gunshot wounds – majority of which were located to the left and right side of the body, near the kidneys.


Investigators recovered several empty shells from 9-mm and .45 caliber firearms from the crime scene.


Mayor Evelio Leonardia, for his part, ordered BCPO chief Colonel Henry Biñas to probe the incident and pin down the perpetrators of Canlas.


“As of the moment, there is no conclusion yet because those speculations always run high but sometimes one of the problem of Biñas in case like this, wala man kami nagahambal pero kalabanan sa mga kaso nga ini may “speculation” parte sa drug war kag ang isa sa problema ni Colonel (Biñas) amo ang kabudlay magkuha sang mga tistigo,” Leonardia said./PN

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