Police Major Alejandro Batobalonos, the officer in charge of investigating 11 Cebu City cops accused of torture, told Rappler on Tuesday, May 4, that he received death threats.

He said the threats were made from the dummy account of an imprisoned drug lord.

“Last week lang, sa social media miingon nga bawos bawos lang daw mi ug ipa andam lang daw akong pamilya,” said Batobalanos. (Last week, on social media, it was said that this was payback between the both of us and that I ought to look out for my family)

According to him, his staff from the Integrity Monitoring and Enhancement Group Visayan Field Unit (IMEG-VFU) spotted the threat under the comments section of an article posted by The Freeman.

The IMEG chief added they have reason to believe that it came from Regie Labajo, the live-in partner of Ritchie Nepomuceno.

Nepomuceno was the main witness in a case involving the alleged torture and rape of 3 women by local policemen in a secret cell in Cebu City.

On April 19, she was shot dead by unidentified assailants along N. Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City

“Gikan ni kang Regie Labajo, katong preso nga uyab ni Ritchie Nepomoceno na trace namo iyang dummy account,” Batobalanos said. (This came from Regie Labajo, the imprisoned lover of Ritchie Nepomuceno whose dummy account we traced.)

Labajo is currently detained in the Cebu City Jail, located in the mountainous Barangay Kalunasan, for illegal drug-related activities.

In an article by Banat News, Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo, chief of the Police Regional Office-7 (PRO-7), said they plan to coordinate with the Cebu City Jail to investigate how Labajo managed to post the said threat while detained.

They are also probing if there are any possible connections to this and Nepomuceno’s death.

As of posting time, Batobalonos told Rappler he is planning to file a case against Labajo. – Rappler.com