Two policemen who reportedly fired the lethal gunshots that killed two suspects during an anti-illegal drugs operation in Laguna have been identified, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday.
PNP Chief General Guillermo Eleazar said the identification was made following ballistics examination and the cross matching on the slugs recovered from the bodies of 16-year-old Jhondie Maglinte Helis and Antonio Dalit, who both died during the operation in Biñan City, Laguna, on Wednesday, June 16, 2021.
“The Regional Crime Laboratory Office of Police Regional Office [RCLO] 4A reported that the slugs specimen taken from the cadaver of Jhondie Maglinte Helis matched with a cal. 45 gun submitted by one of the operatives with a rank of police senior master sergeant,” Eleazar said.
“A .45 pistol owned by a police commissioned officer also matched a bullet recovered from Dalit’s body based on the same report of the RCLO 4A,” he added.
The PNP chief said the results of the investigation by the Fact-Finding Investigation Task Group created by Brig. Gen. Eliseo DC Cruz, regional director of Police Regional Office-Calabarzon, are proof that the police organization is serious in finding out the truth behind the incident.
A total of 11 firearms were submitted for ballistics examinations and cross matching.
Both Helis and Dalit sustained two gunshot wounds based on the autopsy report of the RCLO 4A. Both Helis and Dalit also tested positive for gunpowder nitrates during paraffin tests of their bodies.
Eleazar, however, said that while the identities of the policemen were already established, the missing part is the determination on whether there was indeed an exchange of gunfire between the police operatives and the two slain subjects of police operation.
Another primary focus of the investigation groups is to look into allegation that Helis was handcuffed at the time he was shot.
“There’s a presumption of regularity in the conduct of this operation, unless there are witnesses who could corroborate that there was no exchange of gunfire and that Helis was already handcuffed when he was repeatedly shot as claimed by the relatives,” Eleazar said.
The PNP chief said no witnesses have surfaced so far to substantiate the allegations.
“Our Internal Affairs Service [IAS] investigators went to the house of the relatives to console their families and to ask for their statements of the incident, together with their witnesses but they refused,” Eleazar said, quoting a report from IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo.
Eleazar reiterated his call to the relatives of Helis and Dalit and other possible witnesses to come forward and give their statements to the different investigating bodies as they could help shed light on what really transpired.
The PNP chief said that it was concerning that there seemed to be many witnesses to the incident in the video uploaded on social media, based on the audible chat on the video’s background, but none of them were coming forward to actually provide their statements to the police.