Senate: Excessive use of force at NAIA

Senators are convinced "excessive force" was used when police commandos stormed the control tower of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal II before dawn Saturday, riddling with bullets and killing former Air Transportation Office chief Panfilo Villaruel Jr. and his aide, Navy Lt. (sg) Ricardo Catchillar.

"I think that there was an excessive use of force with the number of gunshots used against Villaruel and Catchillar," said Senate President Franklin Drilon, one of the sponsors of the Senate resolution calling for an investigation of the bloody incident.

"I am disappointed that certain standard procedures were not followed. The failure to have a paraffin test is a lapse. This indicates that certain standards were not followed," he said.

However, pro-administration congressmen saw no need for a similar investigation in the House of Representatives, saying they believed the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team was "justified" in assaulting the control tower and ending the takeover.

"While we regret the deaths of... Villaruel and... Catchillar, it must be noted that the SWAT had no choice... but to neutralize the threat posed by the airport tower takeover," Reps. Prospero Pichay of Surigao del Norte, Prospero Nograles of Davao City, Willie Villarama of Bulacan, Aurelio Umali of Nueva Ecija, and Rodolfo Albano of Isabela said in a statement.

Dr. Emmanuel Aranas, a police forensic expert who conducted the autopsy on Villaruel and Catchillar, told senators that Villaruel sustained 14 bullet wounds in the head and body.

"Villaruel also bore two gunshot wounds in the body, with trajectories in the right side of his back and left side of his back, respectively," he said.

"The trajectories (are) frontward and downward, respectively, indicating that the gunman was elevated.

"Villaruel bore three gunshot wounds on the right ear, which exited at the lower jaw below the right eye, which exited at the back, and at the left nape, which exited in his face, which exploded Villaruel’s entire brain, and resulted in the destruction of his two eyes," he said.

The three gunshot wounds in Villaruel’s head were fatal, he added.

Aranas said Catchillar had four gunshot wounds, including one in the head, with trajectory in the left nape, and exited in his forehead.

"All the gunshot wounds in the head of Catchillar are also fatal," he said.

"On the other hand, there was no sign of smudging in the gunshot wounds of Villaruel. The gunman of Villaruel was more than 24 inches, or more than two feet away from Villaruel.

"While the gunman who shot Catchillar was less than 24 inches or less than two feet away from him," Aranas said.

Catchillar also suffered two gunshot wounds in the back, he added.

Senior Superintendent Andres Caro, commander of the assault team, told senators the police had not yet conducted paraffin tests on the bodies of Villaruel and Catchillar, and the 16 members of the raiding team to determine who fired the fatal shots.

"At present the members of the team have very low morale," he said.

"We believe that we are in our lawful performance of our duty. They are also receiving threats," he said.

Caro said the only documents they will submit to the Senate in the meantime is the after-operations report of the scene of the crime office (SOCO) made by the team of Senior Inspector Juanita Ramos.

"We would like to request that we will just indicate their names in the SOCO report," he said.

Caro said he knows the three SWAT members who shot Villaruel and Catchillar, and that’s why he did not conduct ballistic and paraffin tests on the 16 members of the assault team.

He could not reveal their names for security reasons, Caro added.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. told senators police have not yet taken the firearms of the 16 raiders for ballistic tests to find out what firearms were used, the type of bullets, and how many times the firearms were fired.

"Unless it is necessary, we do that to police officers when there is a shooting incident between criminal elements and the police," he said.

"But we usually conduct paraffin tests on the suspects. Let us remember that the men were there to implement the law. Their identification can be made by the raiding team. We can submit their names," he said.

The 16-member raiding team is assigned to fight hijackers, Ebdane added. — With reports from Paolo Romero, Marichu Villanueva