By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director, Police Colonel Henry Biñas, said he received a request from the family of former Police Major Lito Pirote, who was abducted on Good Friday last year while attending a family affair at a hotel in Bacolod City’s Barangay 7, to perform a DNA test on the remains found last month inside a steel drum in the city’s Barangay Banago.
The law enforcement official said Pirote’s daughter made the request during the holidays. He then suggested she coordinate with Police Station 2 commander, Police Major Sherlock Gabana, on the DNA test, which would be conducted in Manila.
Police, meanwhile, have yet to identify the remains, which were found inside welded-shut steel drum and thrown near the shoreline of Barangay Banago.
Last April, Pirote was abducted by 10 armed men wearing tactical gear and bonnets inside the city’s Metro Inn hotel.
He retired from police service earlier that year and was previously assigned under the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group.
However, the retired official was also one of the seven police officers President Rodrigo Duterte claimed were involved with a drug matrix.
In addition, Pirote was previously charged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for alleged links with the P11 billion drug shipment intercepted at the Manila International Container Port and in Cavite.
His family continues to deny the president’s allegations./DGB, WDJ