MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has identified the officers who fired the shots that killed 16-year old Jhondie Maglinte Helis and Antonio Dalit in an anti-drug operation in Biñan City in Laguna on June 16 but still needs witnesses to conclude how they died.
In a statement, Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief, said that ballistics examination and the cross-matching on the slugs recovered from the victims' bodies led to the identification of the policemen who fired the shots that killed them.
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Maglinte and one Antonio Dalit were killed after police claimed they violently resisted arrest and shot it out with the operatives—an all too common theme in police narratives after killings.
"The slugs specimen taken from the cadaver of Jhondie Maglinte Helis matched with a cal. 45 gun submitted by one of the operatives with a rank of Police Senior Master Sergeant,” Eleazar said, adding that a total of 11 firearms were submitted for processing.
“A .45 pistol owned by a Police Commissioned Officer also matched a bullet recovered from Dalit’s body based on the same report of the RCLO4A."
The PNP did not name the officers involved in the supposed shootout.
Both Helis and Dalit tested positive for gunpowder nitrates during paraffin tests of their bodies.
'Presumption of regularity'
The family of Helis has denied the police's claim that he fought it out with the policemen who were serving an arrest warrant, saying he was handcuffed when they shot him.
Eleazar admitted that while the identities of the policemen were already established, it is still yet to be determined if there was indeed an exchange of gunfire between the cops and the two slain victims.
The police chief added that the task group was looking into the allegation but no witnesses have surfaced so far to substantiate the allegations.
“There’s a presumption of regularity in the conduct of this operation unless there are witnesses who could corroborate that there was no exchange of gunfire and that Helis was already handcuffed when he was repeatedly shot as claimed,” said Eleazar.
Although it is unclear if this investigation will lead to charges being filed, the Supreme Court in 2013 ruled in Aguilar vs Department of Justice et al.—a case that involved a suspect being killed in police custody—that "when the accused admits killing the victim, but invokes a justifying circumstance, the constitutional presumption of innocence is effectively waived and the burden of proving the existence of such circumstance shifts to the accused."
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“Our Internal Affairs Service investigators went to the house of the relatives to console their families and to ask for their statements of the incident, together with their witnesses but they refused, Eleazar said, quoting a report from IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo.
Eleazar then reiterated his call for relatives and other possible witnesses to come forward and give their statements to the different investigating bodies.
The national police chief in his statement referred to the victims, one of them a 16-year-old, as "suspected drug pushers." He did not disclose the identity of the officers.
The police officers involved in the operation remain in restrictive custody.
UNICEF urges investigation into security operations
In a separate statement, the United Nations Children’s Fund said it was "deeply concerned" over the killings but said it "is notable that the Philippine National Police has already undertaken steps to investigate."
Under the Strategic Plan to Prevent and Respond to Grave Child Rights Violations in Situations of Armed Conflict, signed between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United Nations Country Taskforce on Monitoring and Reporting, the AFP commits to preventing the perpetration of all child rights violations within its ranks.
Under the Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict law or Republic Act No. 11188, death of a child, after due investigation by the Commission on Human Rights, can be verified to be a grave child rights violation
"Ending further loss of children’s lives to violence must be everyone’s priority," it said.