A police officer assigned in Iloilo City’s Jaro Police Station was tagged as the suspect who attempted to kill a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent in Barangay Cabug, Bacolod City recently.

Police Patrolman Jake Salgado, a resident of Bacolod City, was charged with frustrated murder together with his friend Jenelyn Manto, 24, for shooting Intelligence Officer 1 Jayson Yayola, 36, of Barangay Canusa, Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, on October 5.

The police have already filed a criminal case against the two suspects after witnesses and the victim identified them.

To recall, Yayola was riding on his motorcycle when the suspects shot him several times using a caliber .38 revolver.

According to the witnesses, two individuals riding a grey-colored vehicle were tailing the motorcycle-riding Yayola.

Upon reaching the Welcome Arc in Barangay Cabug, the suspects attacked the agent and fled towards the direction of Barangay Alijis.

The victim sustained three gunshot wounds.

Salgado was tagged as the triggerman, police said.

Police reports also revealed that a day before the shooting incident, Salgado went home to Bacolod after he was slapped with a one month suspension.

Meanwhile, Bacolod City Police Station 9 commander, Major Ritchie Gohee, believed the motive was work-related.

Yayola was among the PDEA agents who arrested Salgado’s friend identified as Romulo Jamanto in a drug operation on February 2 this year in Barangay Tangub.

On the other hand, Salgado and Manto denied the accusation hurled against them.

Salgado, in a radio interview, claimed that he was in their house with his mother and his girlfriend while Manto was also in their house when the incident happened.

But, he admitted he knew Manto because she was his batchmate in college, but they have not seen each other for months already.

Salgado said he did not know Yayola and Jamanto, who is a drug personality in Bacolod, and he was not even invited for interrogation since he was a person of interest.

On the other hand, Jaro Police Station chief, Police Captain Eduardo Siacon, said that Salgado is now under suspension from October 1 to 31, 2021 for his administrative case after he was caught playing on his cell phone while on duty. (Ruby P. Silubrico)/WDJ