NBI files multiple murder raps vs Atimonan team

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday criminal charges against 32 policemen and soldiers involved in the killing of alleged jueteng operator Vic Siman and 12 others in Atimonan, Quezon last Jan. 6.

Charged with 13 counts of murder were former Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent James Andres Melad, his former deputy intelligence head Supt. Hansel Marantan, and 12 other police officers who took part in the operation – Senior Inspector John Paolo Carracedo, Senior Police Officer 1 Arturo Sarmiento, Superintendent Ramon Balauag, Senior Inspector Timoteo Orig, Chief Inspector Grant Gollod, Senior Police Officer 3 Joselito de Guzman, Senior Police Officer 1 Carlo Cataquiz, Police Officer 3 Eduardo Oronan, PO2 Nelson Indal, PO2 Al Bhazar Jailani, PO1 Wryan Sardea, and PO1 Rodel Talento.

Also charged for the same offense were 11 Armed Forces personnel, led by Lt. Col. Monico Abang, who backed up the police team. The others were Capt. Erwin Macalinao; 1Lt. Rico Tagure; Cpl. Rogelio Tejares; Privates 1st Class Michael Franco, Alvin Roque Pabon, Ricky Jay Borja, Melvin Lumalang and Gil Gallego; and Privates Marc Zaldy Docdoc and Emergin Barrete.

Apart from the multiple murder charges, the NBI also filed charges of obstruction of justice against Carracedo, Tagure, Chief Inspector Zaide Abrera, Insp. Dickson Mercado, SPO1 Meldy Arojo, SPO1 Analiza

Burcelando, PO2 Bayani Gonzales, PO2 Nestor Abuan and PO3 Archie Avila.

The police officers are now at the Personnel Holding Accountability Unit in Camp Crame, Quezon City while the accused soldiers are restricted at Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.

The complaint filed by the NBI, however, showed a revision of the bureau’s findings – particularly on the number of operatives liable for the summary execution.

The NBI had earlier recommended the filing of multiple murder charges against 35 PNP and AFP personnel in its report made public last week.

NBI officials explained that the 10 personnel in the initial list were not charged after probers confirmed that they were not at the checkpoint when the incident took place.

It was learned that Inspectors Ferdinand Aguilar and Evaristo San Juan, PO3 Benedict Dimayuga, PO2 Ronnie Serdena, PO1 Esperidion Corpuz Jr., PO1 Bernie de Leon and PO1 Allen Ayubo; and Technical Sgt. Melanio Balauitan, Cpl. Clark Magusara, and Pvt. Michard Manago – who were earlier recommended by NBI for preliminary investigation – were in other checkpoints and did not directly participate in the killings.

The findings were based on accounts of three eyewitnesses and physical and forensic evidence.

The NBI probe showed that some of the victims were already lying on the ground, slumped on the seat of their car, or ready to surrender but were still shot dead by the operatives.

The 64-page report of the NBI also cited proof of tampering of the crime scene.

It bared, for instance, that some of the operatives took the firearms of the dead victims and fired them to make it appear there was a shootout based on the account of a military witness.

There was also questionable conduct in the procedure followed by the scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) in investigating the incident.

Police also did not surrender the firearms used in the operation.

After receiving the complaint, DOJ’s Prosecutor General Claro Arellano created a high-level panel of prosecutors led by one of his senior deputies to conduct the preliminary investigation.

Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva will chair the five-member panel with City Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano, Assistant State Prosecutors Hazel Decena-Valdez and Niven Canlapan and prosecution lawyer Cesar Angelo Chavez III as members.

A team composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Mari Elvira Herrera, Jinky Dedumo and Katheryn May Penaco-Rojas will assist the panel.

In the preliminary investigation, families of the victims led by Marifi Lontok, widow of environmentalist Tirso Lontok Jr., would stand as complainants. 

Meanwhile, the Army yesterday vowed to provide legal assistance to soldiers implicated in the Atimonan rubout.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes said the soldiers would only be dismissed once convicted by the civilian court.

“We will also help them by providing the necessary legal assistance. According to the procedure, unless they are convicted by the court, we will not remove them from the service,” he said.

Coballes stressed that the soldiers who joined the checkpoint operations did so in good faith.

“They were requested by the police. They went there and did their part in good faith. We cannot just abandon the soldiers if we think what they did was done in good faith,” he said. – With Rey Galupo, Alexis Romero