THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of six counts of arbitrary detention and six counts of murder against seven Bulacan policemen for allegedly detaining and eventually killing six innocent victims of fabricated buy-bust operations in February 2020.
DOJ Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said criminal charges for violation of Article 124 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, (arbitrary detention) and violation of Article 248 of the same code (murder) were filed against Staff Sergeant SSgt. Benjie D. Enconado, SSgt. Irwin Joy M. Yuson, Corporal (Cpl.) Marlon M. Martus, Cpl. Edmund V. Catubay, Jr., Cpl. Harvy C. Albino, Cpl. Herbert L. Hernandez and Patrolman Rusco Virnar A. Madla before the Regional Trial Court of Malolos City last August 25.
Villar said the DOJ is now waiting for the issuance by the trial court of arrest warrants against the seven policemen.
Their victims were identified as Chamberlain Domingo, Chadwin Santos, Edmar Aspirin, Richard Salgado, Erwin Mergal, and Jim Joshua Cordero.
The DOJ prosecution panel, composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor (SASP) Rodan Parrocha, SASP Wendell Bendoval, and Assistant State Prosecutor (ASP) Arturo Roxas, which found probable cause to indict them for the said offenses, recommended the filing of the criminal complaint.
The DOJ said it was made to appear that the six victims were killed as a result of a drug buy-bust operation conducted on Feb. 14, 15 and 18 of last year.
However, the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation-Death Investigation Division (NBI-DID) contradicted the policemen’s claim.
“The reality, based on evidence submitted by the National Bureau of Investigation – Death Investigation Division, was that the victims were unlawfully and forcibly taken on 13 February 2020 at Towerville, Barangay Sto. Cristo, San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan,” the DOJ said.
The DOJ panel recounted that the unsuspecting victims were taken because “they happened to pass by the area where a buy-bust operation took place.”
“The eye-witness account of a person who was tasked to watch over the victims while they were being unlawfully detained inside the Intel Room of the IS (Intelligence Section)/CDEU (City Drug Enforcement Unit), and photographs depicting the victims, all blindfolded and hand-tied, among others, supported the indictment of the above-named police officers,” the DOJ said.
Meanwhile, the complaint filed against Maj. Leo Dela Rosa, SSgt. Jayson Legaspi, Cpl. Jay Marc Leoncio, Cpl. Constante Escalante Jr., Cpl. Raymond Bayan, Cpl. Paul Malgapo, Cpl. Randy Camitoc, and Patrolman Erwin Sabido were all dismissed for lack of probable cause.