By Charlie Lagasca
TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The vice mayor of Tuguegarao City, the capital
of Cagayan province, and five policemen have been charged with multiple murder
before the Office of the Ombudsman for the killing of five suspected
guns-for-hire last May.
The
Commission on Human Rights-Cagayan Valley, which assisted the victims’ families
in filing the case, identified among those charged as Vice Mayor Danilo Baccay
and Senior Supt. Alexander Rafael, Abra police director.
Also
included in the complaint sheet of five counts of murder, grave misconduct and
grave abuse of authority as well as incriminating an innocent person are four
Cagayan policemen identified only as John Does.
“The John
Does, who are (Rafael’s) former subordinates, are allegedly assigned at the
Regional Intelligence Unit (at the) police regional office (in) Tuguegarao
City,” said the CHR, adding that they served as Rafael’s escorts when the
killing took place.
The CHR
said its findings show there was a probable cause to indict the suspects in the
killing of Leonard Apolonio, Daniel Villamor, NomerBiendima, Isabelo Bernal and
Michael Bermudez, all from Abra, who police had tagged as members of a
gun-for-hire group.
Baccay was
linked to the killing after he was found to own one of the firearms found in
the crime scene.
In earlier
reports, he admitted owning the gun but claimed that he had lost it.
Earlier,
the regional police based in Tuguegarao City said the killing was the result of
a legitimate shootout with Rafael’s group along the Maharlika Highway in
Barangay San Lorenzo, Lallo town last May 1.
Rafael
claimed then that the slain suspects aboard a Toyota Corona had tailed them
while they were on their way to his hometown in Cagayan from Ilocos Sur.
His group,
he said, was only forced to fire back at the suspects after they refused to
stop when they were flagged down.
The CHR,
however, said, “There is no argument as to the fact that the victims were
killed by police Senior Superintendent Alexander Rafael and four unidentified
police officers from the Intelligence Division of Police Regional Office No.
02.”
“From the
number of gunshots found in the (victims’) vehicle, one cannot help but
describe it as overkill... The (victims’) vehicle was surrounded by the police
involved, who then indiscriminately fired upon said vehicle,” the CHR said in
its report.
The CHR
said the victims could be even “part of the convoy of no less than respondent
police director Alexander Rafael.”
The CHR
conducted its own investigation after the victims’ families expressed suspicion
that the incident was a case of rubout and not a legitimate shootout, as the
police claimed.
Earlier,
Chief Supt. Rodrigo de Gracia, Cagayan Valley police director, said one of the
slain suspects was earlier apprehended by the Abra police and supposedly
confessed their supposed illegal activities in Cagayan, including a plot to
assassinate several prominent politicians in the province.
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