Karapatan: Obstruction of justice raps vs Malayao kin, counsel 'baseless'
MANILA, Philippines — Rights group Karapatan on Thursday slammed the police for filing complaints against slain peace consultant Randy Malayao’s sister and lawyer for retrieving his personal belongings.
Police filed grave threats, grave coercion and obstruction of justice complaints against legal counsel Edu Balgos and his wife Rina, and Malayao’s sister, Perla Upano, who is an employee of the Department of Interior and Local Government and a former board member of Nueva Vizcaya.
READ: NDF consultant’s slay: Obstruction of justice raps filed
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay stressed that the Balgos couple only “assisted Malayao’s family in claiming his belongings.”
“The police officers yielded precisely because it is within the right of Malayao’s family to obtain possession of his personal effects. The police knew they were not in the position to withhold these items,” she added.
Chief Superintendent Jose Mario Espino, Cagayan Valley police director, said that the three took Malayao’s cell phones, laptop and documents seized from the crime scene. Espino said Malayao's personal effects could have provided leads into the killing.
Malayao’s possessions immaterial to murder case
Karapatan also stressed that the Malayao’s possessions that his family retrieved are irrelevant in the murder case.
“They have the CCTV footage and a rough sketch, so they should immediately get started running after [Malayao’s] killers, not his sister and those who help [his] family,” the statement read.
Malayao, an activist and columnist for Baguio City-based Northern Dispatch, was on a bus heading to Cagayan when he was killed by unidentified gunmen on January 30. He was a long-time consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Karapatan noted that the police, in the reported statement, initially linked Malayao as a New People’s Army commander instead of a peace consultant.
“Randy Malayao is publicly known peace advocate and consultant in the peace process. The fact that the PNP is asserting otherwise proves it is knowingly peddling a lie to muddle the issue,” Palabay added.
Malayao was laid to rest earlier on Thursday. — Kristine Joy Patag
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