3 Manila cops in teen’s death axed

MANILA, Philippines — Three members of the Manila Police District (MPD) were relieved from their posts yesterday over the killing of a 13-year-old boy in Tondo on Friday night.

Police Officer 2 Omar Malinao Formentera and PO1s Arthur Lapada and Kennette Notorio, assigned with the MPD Station 1, were ordered transferred to the district’s headquarters support unit pending result of the investigation, according to MPD directorial staff chief Superintendent Danilo Macerin.

“The relief order is needed to give way to an impartial probe,” Macerin told The STAR.

Formentera was accused of firing a gun that accidentally killed Aldrine Pineda while the policeman was guarding the Vitas slaughterhouse.

He is being held at the MPD homicide detention facility after he surrendered on Sunday.

Formentera yielded his service firearm to determine if the bullet that killed Pineda came from his gun.

Lapada and Notorio were the first responders who arrived at the scene, Macerin said.

Asked why the MPD has to assign policemen to guard the slaughterhouse, Macerin said the city government requested police assistance due to rampant theft in the area.

Reports said that Pineda was sitting on a concrete fence with his playmates when Formentera fired, hitting the boy in the stomach.

The victim died while being treated in a hospital.

A police official, who asked not to be named, said Formentera admitted firing his gun because the boys “kept on throwing stones at him while showing him the dirty finger.”

Paraffin tests

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde ordered a deeper probe on the killing of Pineda.

Albayalde vowed to dismiss the policemen involved in the shooting if they are proven guilty.

But he clarified that Formentera, Lapada and Notorio are not yet considered suspects as no case had been filed against them.

The policemen’s firearms were subjected to paraffin tests to determine if the bullet that killed the victim came from their guns.

According to Albayalde, the firearms of two or three security guards manning a nearby establishment were also subjected to ballistic test.

“We wanted to make sure (about the identity of the person) who killed the boy,” Albayalde said.

He said the victim’s family could file homicide charges against the policemen.

 Albayalde said they would file an administrative case of grave misconduct against the police officers if evidence warrants.– With Non Alquitran