Ortigas 'rubout' victim's kin ask SC to stop arraignment

MANILA, Philippines - The family of alleged Ortigas “rubout” victim Anton Cu-Unjieng will ask the Supreme Court to stop the arraignment of five Highway Patrol Group (HPG) policemen on homicide charges.

Monique Cu-Unjieng La’o said their lawyer, Jose Manuel Diokno, will file an urgent motion to stop the April 3 arraignment of Senior Inspectors Hansel Marantan and Samson Belmonte, Police Officers 3 Rizalito Ramos Jr. and Lloyd Soria and PO2 Dexter Bernadas before Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 265 Judge Danilo Buermio.

Cu-Unjieng and two others, Francis Xavier Manzano and Bryan Anthony Dulay, were killed in an alleged encounter with HPG police officers along Garnett Road in Pasig City on Nov. 7, 2005. The rubout angle came out after a television crew caught the incident on video.

La’o said they are questioning the downgrading of charges from murder to homicide and the dropping of charges against six other police officers.