EDITORIAL - License to kill

Doubts have been raised about his story. But if Police Officer 2 Edgar Angel is telling the truth, he has given a chilling account of how easy it is to have someone killed in this country.

Angel, assigned in Pasay City, is being held at the Quezon City Police District headquarters at Camp Karingal for the murder of champion car racer Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor last June 12. By Angel’s account, he learned of the identity of his famous victim only after the murder was reported in mass media.

The policeman said he killed someone he didn’t know as a favor and in exchange for P100,000. Police probers have hinted that Angel needed the money to sustain a drug habit. Angel was initially arrested in a drug sting operation.

Angel said his friend, businessman Domingo de Guzman III, had nagged him since November last year to kill Pastor. The policeman said De Guzman claimed Pastor was beating his wife Daliah, with whom the businessman was apparently having an affair. De Guzman has denied the accusations.

Many other cops have been arrested or implicated in murders paid for by friends or political patrons. Politicians use their police bodyguards to assassinate rivals during elections. The suspected involvement of policemen in the murders of journalists has been one of the biggest factors in the failure to solve the killings. Policemen and militia members are among those being tried on charges of direct participation in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Statements given by arrested hired guns show that life is cheap in this country; assassins will accept a contract for as low as five figures. In Angel’s case, P100,000 was a friendly rate, with P50,000 as down payment and the balance allegedly given after Pastor lay dead. Angel had hoped to collect a promised bonus of P50,000 before he was apprehended.

The positive aspect here is that the gunman was arrested fairly quickly and is pointing to the alleged masterminds. Angel’s story, however, is a challenge to the Philippine National Police to purge its ranks of those who think a badge and a gun give them a license to kill.