Murder raps filed vs cops in Bacoor election day shootout

Eighteen policemen and several John Does are now facing murder and frustrated murder charges for the alleged shootout that occurred in Bacoor, Cavite on May 10, election day, that left two people dead and two others injured. Killed in the supposed encounter were retired Police Senior Superintendent Arnulfo Obillos and Navy Petty Officer 2 Juanity Parais, both supporters of former Cavite Rep. Plaridel Abaya. Abaya, along with the families of the two fatalities, filed the complaint with the Department of Justice (DOJ). Obillos was reportedly Abaya’s senior staff while Paraiso served as one of the former lawmaker’s bodyguards. Obillos and Paraiso were allegedly gunned down by members of the Bacoor Municipal Police Station during an altercation along Aguinaldo Highway, Barangay Talaba in the town of Bacoor. The complainants denied that Obillos and Paraiso engaged the policemen in a shootout, citing as evidence a report from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) showing that the two tested negative for gunpowder nitrates, which could mean that they didn’t fire their guns. The respondents had claimed that they were forced to retaliate after Abaya’s men allegedly fired at the police station. But according to an NBI medico legal report, which the complainants also cited as evidence, Obillos was shot at close range while Paraiso suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the head and different parts of his body. Named respondents in the complaint were Police Senior Superintendent Primitivo Tabujara, Jr., Superintendent Ramil Ramones Montilla, Chief Inspector Christopher Falculan Olazo, SPO1 Ricardo Trinidad Poblete, SP01 Janelito Constante Dinglasan, PO2 Wilfredo Angeles Casalme, SPO4 Jimmy Combes Narag, SPO2 Ariel Yaya Panganiban, PO3 Domingo Asia Garcia, PO3 Salvador Lopez Cesma, PO2 Bobby Malabanan Zamora, PO2 Renato Yaya Bayot, PO1 Rafael Taruc Rodriguez, PO2 Alvin David Sinko, all assigned at the provincial regional office-4 in Camp Vicente Lim, Calamba City. Tabujara was included in the complaint for allegedly trying to cover up the truth behind the supposed shootout. Also charged were SPO1 Rodolfo Arboleda, of the Bacoor Municipal Police Station; and PO3 Ronan Musni, PO2 Bienvenido Rosas, PO2 Richard Fermil, of the Philippine National Police-Special Weapons and Tactics (PNP-SWAT). All of the respondents, except Tabujara, were earlier charged administratively by the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the PNP-Cavite for grave misconduct and/or gross irregularities in the performance of duty. Aside from the double murder and frustrated murder charges, the policemen were also charged with incriminatory machinations, arbitrary detention, robbery, slight physical injuries and maltreatment of prisoners. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV