EDITORIAL - Dismissed

After more than a year, 13 policemen involved in a massacre in Atimonan, Quezon have been dismissed from the service. The 13 are led by Superintendent Hansel Marantan, who argues that riddling a convoy with a hail of bullets, killing 13 people, to get one suspected gambling lord was a legitimate law enforcement operation.

The 13 fatalities, the police insist, were members of a gun-for-hire ring who opened fire first at the police and military personnel at the checkpoint. To this day no proof has been presented about any of the fatalities being a paid assassin. Marantan’s principal target, Vic Siman, had a reputation for being a jueteng operator, but illegal gambling is not a serious offense warranting capital punishment or even a life term in this country.

Marantan was the only lawman at the checkpoint to suffer a gunshot wound. All the vehicles in the convoy, on the other hand, were full of bullet holes, with the one bearing Siman having about 200. All the vehicles had their bullet-riddled windows rolled up.

Some of the 13 policemen reportedly plan to challenge their dismissal for serious irregularity in the performance of their duty. They have the right to appeal the order, but the PNP must not budge on this case if it wants to put an end to dangerous, lazy and inefficient short cuts in law enforcement.

At the same time, the criminal proceedings against the dismissed policemen must move faster. PNP personnel must understand that you can’t dismiss 12 deaths as collateral damage in an effort to get one suspected gambling lord. The PNP has wrapped up the administrative case. Now it’s the turn of the justice system to show that summary executions have no place in a professional police force.