Parents of Cebu blast victims to reopen case

CEBU — The parents of two boys, who were killed in an explosion in a firing range in Toledo City last year, have agreed to reopen the case and file criminal charges against a group of Filipino and American soldiers who, they claimed, were responsible for their sons’ deaths.

The families of the victims and the eight-year-old boy who survived the blast are now reportedly willing to testify in court once the case is heard.

National Bureau of Investigation head agent Renato Mandawe, who went to Toledo City the other day, said the parents of victims Rolly Navales, 12, and Arnello Gaviola, 11, agreed to reopen the case against 29 Filipino and American naval personnel who held a military exercise at the Atlas firing range in Toledo.

Navales and Gaviola, accompanied by eight-year-old Jordan Villarmea, were gathering firewood inside the Atlas compound when they chanced upon a live explosive allegedly left by the military men. They reportedly tinkered with it, triggering the blast.

The US and Filipino soldiers had just concluded a live fire exercise at the firing range inside the abandoned compound of Atlas Mining.

Mandawe said relatives of Navales and Gaviola even requested the NBI to exhume the bodies of the two boys for a re-autopsy.

Pedro Navales and Anselmo Gaviola, the boys’ fathers who earlier withdrew the case in exchange for P1.5 million in amicable settlement, also promised to execute another set of affidavits to support the refiling of the case by the NBI.

The two said a large part of the amount went to their lawyer, Achilles Cañete.

The Toledo City prosecutor’s office dismissed early this year the case of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and serious physical injuries against the Filipino and American soldiers, after the complainants executed affidavits of desistance.

In accepting the P1.5 million as settlement, the victims’ families, however, claimed that they did not enter into an agreement with the respondents that would prohibit them from refiling the case.

The NBI is expected to provide the complainants with security personnel once the case is reopened.

NBI regional director Anthony Liongson is scheduled to meet with the victims’ parents within this week to finalize details on the refiling of the case. — Freeman News Service