Catchillar kin seek justice

BASISTA, Pangasinan — The family of slain Navy Lt. (sg) Ricardo Catchillar said yesterday they are seeking justice for his death at the hands of a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team.

Catchillar’s eldest son, Carlo, is only 16. His dreams of either becoming a doctor or of following in his father’s footsteps by joining the Navy now seem beyond reach.

Carlo now has to step into his father’s shoes and help support and care for his seven other siblings, the youngest of whom is two-year-old Ricardo Jr. His mother, Maria Luz, is a stay-home mother and housewife.

"I was surprised. I didn’t expect this to happen. I want justice for my father," Carlo said, describing how he felt when he learned that his father had been shot dead.

Carlo said he cried when he learned of his father’s death. "They (the SWAT team) didn’t give him a chance. Why did they open fire?" the young Catchillar asked.

The slain Catchillar, Carlo said, "was a very quiet, very helpful and very responsible father."

Ricardo spoke with his wife shortly before the standoff, telling her to meet him in Manila on Saturday.

Maria Luz refused, saying she was busy. She had no inkling that the next time she saw him, she and her mother-in-law would be taking his lifeless body home for burial.

Catchillar and former Air Transportation Office (ATO) chief Panfilo Villaruel had taken over the main control tower of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in a bizarre pre-dawn standoff with responding police units. They had explosives trapped to their bodies and were heavily armed.

Catchillar, 38, and Villaruel, 62, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body. They were heard yelling surrender over live television and radio broadcasts just before they were shot dead.

The responding police team justified their use of deadly force by saying Catchillar and Villaruel opened fire first.

Father’s Grief

Prudencio Catchillar, 63, and a farmer, peeks out the window each time a car stops near their home. He has been sleepless since Saturday, holding vigil for his son’s last homecoming.

Prudencio and his wife, Jovita, have a brood of 14 children, 10 sons and four daughters. Ricardo, whom they affectionately call Rey, was their second child.

In a separate interview, Prudencio said he learned about his son’s death and the circumstances surrounding it when a neighbor informed them at 10 a.m. Saturday.

He said their other son, Ponciano, was based in Manila and had gone to Camp Crame in Quezon City to confirm the news.

Stunned and grieving, the Catchillar family could not accept the news. Prudencio described his son as "very quiet, very generous to everyone who seeks his help," and as someone who "has no vices."

"He just stayed home when he visited us," Prudencio said of his slain son. "He was a very principled man. He did not have many friends."

The Catchillar patriarch said he could not believe the news of his son’s death because Ricardo never mentioned any problems regarding his work, nor does he know the story behind his son and Villaruel’s fate.

He said his son maintained contact with them via text messaging, adding that Maria Luz and his grandchildren live next door.

Before his death, Catchillar had planned to renovate his house and was saving for his children’s education, Prudencio said.

Prudencio also said his slain son was a self-made man who worked as a security guard while studying to earn his Bachelor of Science in Criminology and sent any extra money he had to help pay his siblings’ tuition.