Probers get more evidence vs killer cop

MANILA, Philippines — Bullet casings lifted from the crime scene now form part of the evidence against police M/Sgt. Jonel Nuezca in the fatal shooting of a mother and son in Paniqui, Tarlac last Sunday.

Gen. Debold Sinas, Philippine National Police chief, said investigators confirmed that the bullet casings collected from the property of victims Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank Anthony, 25, were fired from the 9mm pistol issued to Nuezca by the PNP.

“The gun matches with the shells and slugs recovered from the crime scene,” he said in Filipino.

Last Thursday, Sinas said probers had obtained the original copy of the video that captured Nuezca shooting each of the victims twice in the head last Dec. 20.

The 12-year-old boy who took the video and sent a copy of it to his relative – a 16-year-old girl – submitted the cellphone to investigators for forensic examination by the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG).

“The video strengthens the case against him (Nuezca),” Sinas said.

But even without the original copy of the video, the PNP chief said there already is a strong case against Nuezca because of the results of the ballistics examination.

Meanwhile, the suspect’s 12-year-old daughter who witnessed her father shoot two of their neighbors has been given social intervention.

“Having seen what happened, she could not sleep,” Sinas said, adding that after the shooting, Nuezca’s wife and daughter relocated to an undisclosed location in Central Luzon.

As an offshoot of the gruesome murders, Kabayan party-list Rep. Ron Salo is pushing for more stringent eligibility requirements in the PNP, noting that police officers like Nuezca might be “psychologically unfit to be in the service and be entrusted with a firearm.”

The vice chairman of the House human rights committee said he plans to file a bill requiring the annual psychological evaluation of police officers when session resumes next month.

Similarly, Parañaque City Rep. Joy Tambunting, House information and communications technology committee vice chair, wants to introduce “more extensive sensitivity training in dealing with volatile situations” for law enforcers.

Agusan del Norte Rep. Lawrence Fortun, for his part, reiterated a proposal to transfer the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service – which investigates erring police officers – to the Department of Justice.

“(It would) help eradicate the plague of police criminality and brutality,” Fortun said. “This latest instance of a police officer mercilessly and brazenly killing unarmed persons is not an isolated incident. It is yet another among multitudes of police brutality,” he added.