JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday said the PNP will lead the investigation, for now, in the killing of Libungan, North Cotabato mayor Christopher Cuan as the National Bureau of Investigation has its hand full investigating other cases.
Cuan and his driver were killed by an unidentified gunman yesterday while he was inspecting a cockpit under construction at Barangay abaruyan in Libungan town.
“As to the Libungan’s mayor killing, we’ll wait for more facts to unfold. The NBI is getting a bit overloaded. So, we will let the PNP take the lead for now,” Guevarra said.
He added the NBI may step in if “preliminary facts will show that this may be a proper case under Administrative Order 35.”
AO 35, issued in 2013 by former President Benigno Aquino III, created an interagency task force headed by the DOJ with the DILG, PNP, AFP, NBI and the Presidential Human Rights Committee as members to probe extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in the country.
Cuan, who has been included in President Duterte’s narcolist, survived an assassination attempt in 2019.
