Cops tampered with evidence in Atimonan – AFP

MANILA, Philippines - Police fired the guns of the dead to make it appear that the fatalities opened fire. They also finished off a wounded man despite pleas from a soldier to take the victim to a hospital.

These were among the stories narrated by soldiers who manned a checkpoint together with a police team in Atimonan, Quezon, where 13 men were shot dead last Jan. 6 in what a fact-finding group of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) described as a rubout.

The soldiers denied being part of a conspiracy to execute the 13, and said the police contingent in the checkpoint tampered with evidence at the scene.

In a 58-page joint counter-affidavit, the respondents from the Armed Forces of the Philippines said members of the team led by police Superintendent Hansel Marantan fired the guns of the dead victims.

The military men who acted as back up of Marantan’s team in the operation included Lt. Col. Monico Abang, 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.

Their joint statement submitted during the preliminary investigation last Monday at the Department of Justice (DOJ) bolstered the multiple murder charges filed against the policemen.

The soldiers belied the charges of the NBI that there was a conspiracy among all of those who took part in the operations in Antimonan.

The soldiers stressed that some details of the NBI report came from them during the fact-finding probe. They said this is why they should not be included in the charges of multiple murder filed against the 11 soldiers led by Abang, and 14 policemen led by Chief Superintendent James Andres Melad, former Region IV-A police director, and Marantan, former Region IV-A deputy intelligence head. 

“We would not have disclosed what we saw, taking into consideration that the police actions may be considered as our own act. Without the statement of the undersigned respondents that we witnessed police operatives tampering the evidence, by firing the guns of the occupants of the SUV in the air, the NBI would have not learned of this fact,” the soldiers lamented.  

No transfer to ombudsman

The DOJ has rejected Marantan’s plea to transfer to the Office of the Ombudsman the preliminary investigation of the killings of alleged jueteng operator Vic Siman and 12 others.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the investigating panel chaired by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva has denied the plea of Marantan, which cited as basis her earlier public pronouncements on the case.

“I remember that the counsel of Superintendent Marantan wrote to me asking the DOJ not to assume jurisdiction over the case and refer it to the ombudsman because of perceived lack of impartiality on my part because of certain pronouncements. I referred that letter to the chair of the panel and I understand the chair denied that request,” she told reporters yesterday.

Marantan cited as basis De Lima’s reported statement during the reenactment that the incident was “definitely no shootout,” which the accused police officer claimed was a “prejudgment of the case.”

The DOJ chief said the panel would also proceed with its preliminary investigation despite the petition filed by Marantan before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the legality of the probe conducted by the NBI.

“As of this very moment there is no TRO (temporary restraining order). I hope there will be none. So the preliminary investigation will push through. It is the mandate of the panel to proceed with the preliminary investigation without any order from the court saying otherwise,” she stressed.

De Lima also explained that the DOJ panel is independent in conducting the investigation, with the secretary of justice observing a hands-off policy.

She pointed out that she would only be mandated to act on the case when it reaches her office in petition for review after the preliminary investigation.

De Lima said she could always opt to inhibit if the respondents could prove she would not be impartial in resolving the case.

Marantan and Melad have both denied the multiple murder charges filed against them in their counter-affidavits submitted to the DOJ panel.