Cops acting on their own

>> Friday, January 1, 2021



LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- On Nov. 12, last year, a headless male cadaver was found in a ravine along Km. 20, Sitio Gulon, Barangay Ambassador, Tublay, Benguet. The body believed to be a “salvage” victim was identified as Harjan Pacyao Lagman, 25.
    Baguio City police director Col. Allen Rae Co said that with the help of CCTV footage, they established that the men who abducted Lagman from Barangay Irisan, were anti-drug operatives of the Cordillera police regional drug enforcement unit.
    The victim's father told police investigators that his son was grabbed, handcuffed and forced into a red Toyota Innova by five unidentified men a day before his body was found.
    With the help of CCTV footage from the barangay office, two of the five men in civilian clothes involved in the abduction of Harjan were identified as cops. P/Col. Co said the suspects were immediately disarmed and cases were prepared against them, saying further that the PNP does not tolerate such action no matter who they are.
    The Philippine National Police Cordillera regional police disbanded its Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) after it was “found out” that the personnel acted on their own without orders to operate. The case could further erode the reputation of the PNP amid a relentless drug war.    
    Government records claim that some 5,021 people have been killed since the PNP launched the Oplan Tokhang campaign. With this number, there were those who could have been killed in anti-drug operations that were not legitimately ordered. The PNP said that investigations were being conducted, the findings of which were yet to be reported to the public.
    In 2016 when drug suspects were being killed one after the other in Baguio and La Trinidad even in broad daylight, I had the wild suspicion that an illicit anti-drug team was going around killing them. If so, pray that your neighborhood policeman is not part of it.
    Then on Dec. 20, a few days after the beheading of a drug suspect came out in the news, a police officer identified as Jonel Nuezca fatally shot two of his unarmed neighbors in Paniqui, Tarlac.
    The shooting incident occurred following an argument over an improvised noise maker for the New Year and a pre-existing dispute over a right-of-way between Nuezca and the mother and son victims identified as Sonya Gregorio and Frank Anthony Gregorio.
    Lawmakers in Congress and the Senate condemned the killing of the Gregorios, describing the incident as “appalling, shocking and infuriating” which led them to file Senate Resolution No. 600 that will probe into the recent killings in the country during Duterte's administration.
    Again, policeman Nuezca who was off-duty acted on his own when he shot the mother and son. He was charged for double murder. It was found out that he had been previously charged with two homicide cases and several administrative cases since 2010 but the cases were closed due to lack of substantial evidence. Looks like abuse of power.
    Every time there are incidents such as these that involve cops, officials in the police hierarchy are quick to describe them as “isolated cases.” But the killing of suspected criminals in the past, prior to the headless cadaver in Tublay and the Tarlac incident are not isolated cases.
    The proof is found by looking at numerous court cases involving policemen filed by families of victims. Still fresh in the mind of the public are the killing of former soldier Winston Ragos who argued with the police suspect at a quarantine checkpoint, and the killing of 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos in 2017 who, police claimed, was involved in drugs.
    Although the majority of the 205,000 or so police forces in the country are honest and dedicated cops who perform their mandate properly, the thousands of cases filed in regular courts against policemen speaks of abuse of authority and a culture of impunity that has advanced through the years because these were unchecked or tolerated.
    What other reasons do the killers have when they can shoot unarmed people at point-blank other than impunity and disregard for human life because some of their leaders tolerate crookedness by patting them on their shoulders?
    Wishing you more blessings and the best of health in 2021.

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