Cop, 4 trainees axed for ex-soldier’s slay at checkpoint

MANILA, Philippines — The National Police Commission (Napolcom) has ordered the dismissal of a policeman and four police trainees for the killing of retired Army soldier Winston Ragos in Quezon City in April 2020.

The Napolcom found M/Sgt. Daniel Florendo; Patrolmen Dalejes Gaciles, Arnel Fontillas and Dante Fronda, and Patrolwoman Joy Flaviano guilty of grave misconduct.

“The commission finds all respondents culpable of three counts of grave misconduct and meted with the penalty of dismissal from the service,” Napolcom vice chairman Vitaliano Aguirre II said in a text message yesterday, citing a Napolcom resolution.

Aguirre did not go into details on the pieces of evidence that proved the police officers were administratively liable for Ragos’ death.

The former soldier’s mother, Merlyn Ragos, was the one who filed the administrative complaint against the police officers.

The Napolcom, an attached agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, has the authority to summarily dismiss erring police officers.

Ragos, who had post-traumatic stress disorder, was shot by Florendo at a quarantine checkpoint in Barangay Pasong Putik on April 21, 2020.

Florendo shot Ragos after the ex-Army soldier appeared to pull out something from his bag. Police earlier claimed a .38 caliber revolver was found in Ragos’ bag, but his family insisted the handgun was planted.

The National Bureau of Investigation earlier filed murder and perjury cases against Florendo and the other police officers.