CHR, NBI, Napolcom probe Quezon shootout

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and two law enforcement agencies have formed teams to investigate Sunday's encounter in Quezon that left 13 people dead.

 

CHR head Loretta Ann Rosales said that field investigators have been sent on Tuesday to Quezon province and they were given specific instructions to gather evidence from the site of the encounter at the border of Plaridel and Atimonan towns and check the background of all the personalities involved in the clash.

 

Rosales said that the CHR would want to determine if the joint teams of the police and the military that clashed with the slain suspects used excessive force and if they followed the rules of engagement.

 

She said that the officers involved in the encounter will be called upon by the CHR for questioning.

 

The National Bureau of Investigation has also sent teams from its Death Investigation Division (DID) as also starts its own investigation on the encounter.

 

National Police Commission Vice Chairman Eduardo Escueta, meanwhile, said that the commission's regional body in Laguna province has also been ordered to look into the encounter.

 

Among the 13 slain suspects were suspected jueteng lord Victorino  Siman of Calamba, Laguna, and his supposed bodyguards including three policemen, three soldiers and at least two alleged agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 

The fatalities were identified as Superintendent Alfredo Consemino of EM’s Barrio, Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba City; Special Police Officer 1 Gruet Mantuano of Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro; PO1 Jeffrey Valdez of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro; Air Force Staff Sgt. Armando Lescano of 407 Lt. Ano Street, Fernando Air Base in Lipa City; and two men bearing ID cards of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) – Leonardo Marasigan of Maunong, Calamba, and Maximo Pelayo of Crossing Tigaon, Camarines Sur.

 

Six more fatalities were former Sariaya municipal administrator Tirso Lontoc Jr. of Sta. Lucia, Dolores, Quezon; Conrado Decillo of Maunong, Calamba; Victor Garcia Gonzales of Pulong Balon, Candaba, Pampanga; Gerry Ancero Siman also of Maunong; Jimbeam Justiniani of Quezon City; and Paul Quiohilag of Biñan, Laguna.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has formed a special task force to investigate allegations that Siman and his group's killing was a rubout.

 

PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Genoroso Cerbo Jr., meanwhile, said that the police organization welcomes the CHR's independent investigation and said that they are willing to cooperate with the commission's field investigators.

 

"We welcome [the CHR's investigation," Cerbo said in a radio interview.

 

He said that reports that part of the police's investigation was to determine reports that Siman's group was transporting P100 million jueteng money when the encounter happened.

 

The police had said that a joint group of soldiers and policemen set up a checkpoint at the boundary of Atimonan and Plaridel towns after receiving information that a crime group coming from Bicol region will pass the area.

 

Generoso said that the PNP will provide the public with regular updates on its investigation on the encounter.

 

Aside from the law enforcement agencies' investigations, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said that he will ask for a congressional inquiry into the encounter.