Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) — The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed criminal and administrative charges against four police officers accused of murdering – and attempting to kill – a group of Quezon City residents in a 2016 anti-drug operation, including a “Tokhang” survivor.
The Center for International Law (CenterLaw) said a copy of the decision was released just earlier this week, although the document was dated Nov. 28, 2022.
In the 12-page ruling approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires, police officers Emil Garcia, Allan Formilleza, James Aggarao Jr., and Melchor Navisaga were cleared of murder, frustrated murder, robbery, and of violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
It said there was no sufficient evidence against the policemen.
The four were accused of killing Marcelo Daa Jr., Rhaffy Gabo, Anthony Comendo, and Jessie Cule during the early part of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
They also allegedly tried to murder Efren Morillo, who testified that the plainclothes policemen entered his friend Daa’s house in Payatas while they were playing pool in August 2016, and fatally shot his companions.
Morillo also alleged that the cops ransacked the house and took several valuables, as well as forced him and his friends to admit ownership of illegal drugs and firearms. He said he played dead after being shot in the chest.
Meanwhile, the police officers maintained that they caught the group using illegal drugs, and that the latter shot at them first.
The complaint was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by Morillo and family members of the slain drug war victims.
\”There is no question that Marcelo, Jessie, Anthony and Rhaffy died, and Efren sustained a gunshot wound following the anti-illegal drug operation conducted by the respondents. However, these facts alone are insufficient to show that a crime has indeed been committed and that the respondents are responsible for the same,\” read the decision.
The Ombudsman also said the statements of Morillo – the sole eyewitness for the complainants’ side – \”are suspect considering that he was one of the subjects of the very police operation.\”
It further noted that it finds no probable cause to charge the policemen of robbery. The office said the existence of the items allegedly taken, as well as the alleged planting of illegal drugs and firearms, were not established.
\”As the administrative charge is anchored on the same facts as that of the criminal charge, the Office finds that the complainants failed to prove the respondents’ administrative liability by substantial evidence,\” it added.
‘Reinforces necessity for ICC probe’
In a statement on Thursday, CenterLaw condemned the Ombudsman’s move.
It said the decision \”reinforces the necessity for the International Criminal Court to exercise its jurisdiction in order to prosecute the masterminds behind the thousands of extrajudicial killings during the Duterte years.\”
CenterLaw added that the dismissal of the charges came \”despite two previous court decisions that supported the complainants’ narratives of the incident.\”
The organization noted that in 2017, the Supreme Court granted a petition for the writ of amparo filed by the victims’ families, prohibiting the policemen from approaching them within a one-kilometer radius from their workplace and residence. It also pointed out that the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City acquitted Morillo earlier this year of direct assault charges filed by the same officers.
