MANILA, Philippines — The criminal complaint against the cop who killed an army veteran—allegedly in self-defense—in Quezon City in April has been returned to the police "for further investigation", the chief of the national police said on Monday.
Police M/Sgt. Daniel Florendo shot retired 34-year-old Winston Ragos at a quarantine checkpoint on April 21 after the latter supposedly started an argument with personnel of the Quezon City Police District unprovoked.
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Videos of the incident that circulated social media show that while Florendo shot Ragos as he seemed to be reaching into his bag for something, the police officer shot him a second time after he had already turned away.
Speaking in an interview with dzMM Teleradyo, Police Gen. Archie Gamboa, chief of the Philippine National Police, said in Filipino: "It's still lacking on the evidence, I think, that would not warrant filing of the appropriate case."
"That's why the case was returned to the police for further investigation. As for the administrative cases, it's still ongoing," he added.
In separate statements after the incident, Police Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo, QCPD director, described the fatal shooting as a "judgment call," while Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, asserted that "the suspect really had a gun in his bag. And our police are strictly enforcing quarantine."
Gamboa also earlier defended the cop, saying that Florendo was simply complying with instructions.
The statements from the police leadership prompted the Army to say it was worried that the PNP had prejudged the incident in favor of its personnel.
Although the police were quick to defend Florendo, 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."
RELATED: Army wary of police 'prejudgment' in Ragos shooting
Rules 7.4 and 7.5 of the PNP Operational Procedures say that police may only use "more extreme, but non-deadly measures" and "only such necessary and reasonable force should be applied as would be sufficient to overcome the resistance" when dealing with violent or armed offenders.
Police officers present at the scene can also be heard in the viral video saying they did not care whether he was armed or not. One cop can audibly be heard saying, "Sige, iputok mo (Go ahead, shoot)."
Ragos’ family has vehemently denied that he was carrying a gun at the time of his killing.
They added that the former soldier suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which let to his disability discharge from the military.
"The Office of the City Prosecutor temporarily released him for further investigation," Gamboa, also told Philstar.com in an earlier text message.