Murder raps recommended vs cops in Ortigas ‘overkill’

Six months after the Ortigas Center shooting incident that left three people dead, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) recommended yesterday the filing of multiple murder charges against 10 members of task force under the Traffic Management Group (TMG).

In a 36-page en banc resolution, the CHR said it found probable cause that there was "arbitrary deprivation of life" committed against suspected carjackers Anton Cu-Unjieng, Francis Xavier Manzano, and Bryan Anthony Dulay by the 10 TMG officers.

Named in the resolution as respondents were Senior Inspectors Hansel Marantan, Henry Cerdon, and Samson Belmonte; Police Officers 3 Lloyd Soria, and Rizalito Ramos Jr., POs2 Dexter Pascua, Jesus Fermin, Sonny Robrigado; and POs1 Fernando Rey Gapuz, and Josil Rey Lucena.

The CHR will submit its resolution and other pertinent documents related to the case to the Office of the Ombudsman for the filing of criminal and administrative cases, in accordance with Republic Act 6770.

The CHR resolution and documents will likewise be endorsed to the National Police Commission (Napolcom), Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

According to the CHR, forensic analysis and findings revealed that when the three men were flagged down by the Task Force Limbas operatives, they stopped the car, but were met with gunfire from the state agents, "who acted with criminal intent."

"Hence, the anti-carnapping operations implemented by the police operatives on the evening of Nov. 7, 2005 was feigned, premeditated, and treacherous, thus the killing of the victims by the said state agents qualifies the criminal act as a case of multiple murder," the CHR resolution stated.

The CHR said that actions of the TMG operatives contravened the very rules of engagement of the PNP, noting that the policemen "deliberately did not make any attempt to bring the mortally wounded victims to the nearest hospital."

"Instead, they wilfully and feloniously ensured the death of the victims with the use of excessive and/or lethal force as borne by the second round of gunfire even when the victims were already at the point of death," the CHR resolution stated.

On the gunshot wound sustained by Inspector Belmonte that was supposedly a result of the shooting incident, the CHR deemed it as "self-inflicted and probably accidental."

At around 10 p.m. of Nov. 7, 2005, three alleged members of the Valle Verde Gang were killed during an anti-carjacking operation at the Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Police intercepted Cu-Unjieng, Manzano, and Dulay, who were on board a Nissan Exalta sedan at the corner of Garnet and Ortigas, following a tip from an informant.

The victims, however, allegedly refused to yield and fired at the pursuing lawmen, who retaliated in "self defense."

However, relatives and human rights group decried the "overkill" based on video footage taken by a television news crew, prompting the CHR investigation.

Meanwhile, TMG director Chief Superintendent Errol Pan insisted that the incident was a result of a legitimate operation despite the findings of the CHR that no shootout took place between officers and the three suspected car thieves.

"We believe that TMG operation was legitimate. They (TMG operatives) are ready to prove that," Pan said in reaction to the CHR findings.

He said that what CHR found was merely probable cause and that TMG personnel can still defend themselves in court when the charges of murder are filed against them.

Pan was not yet chief of the TMG at the time of the shootout. He was appointed months later after another group of TMG operatives nearly killed a businessman whom they mistook for a car thief. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe