Cops tagged in boy’s death face charges

The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 welcomed the filing of complaints against three officers involved in the anti-drug operation that led to the death of four-year-old Bladen Skyler Abatayo last July 10.

Supt. Reyman Tolentin, the PRO 7 spokesperson, said the personnel will answer the charges against them.

He said they will provide legal assistance to Carbon Police Chief John Kareem Escober, PO1 Wilbert Perez and PO1 Rey Van Dadula.

Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 chief, lawyer Patricio Bernaldez, filed the complaints against the three officers before the Military and Law Enforcement Offices (Moleo).

The three former operatives of the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) in Cebu City, who have been relieved from their posts following the boy’s death, are facing grave misconduct charges before the military ombudsman.

Separate charges of falsification by public officer, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice were also filed against Escober.

Another case of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide was filed against Perez, while a complaint for dereliction of duty was filed against Dadula.

Marc Anthony, the boy’s father, is hopeful they will attain justice.

“Nagpasalamat ko sa NBI kay makab-ot na namo ang hustisya para sa among anak. Wa man mi lain madaganan gud, NBI ra (I thank the NBI, finally we will get justice. We don’t have anybody to run to but the NBI),” he told reporters.

“Nagpasalamat gyod ko sa Ginoo. Nindot akong gibati kay nafile na gyod. Madayon na gyod ang kaso (Thank God cases have been filed),” he said.

The boy was studying in his room when hit by a stray bullet during a drug bust conducted by the DEU men in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City last July 10.

The policemen insisted that the incident was a result of a legitimate police drug operation.

NBI 7 attached to the complaint the affidavits of eight witnesses, including the boy’s father, and the close-circuit television footage of the crime scene.

Witnesses belied Dadula’s claim that there was a scuffle between him and one of the men who were allegedly caught repacking shabu inside an abandoned house in Barangay Ermita.

The NBI 7 said the bullet that killed the boy came from the gun owned by Perez, who accidentally fired this as he stumbled and fell from the slippery stairs of the abandoned house.

The bullet hit Skyler’s chest while the boy was in his room with his mother.

Eyewitnesses also executed affidavits belying the police’s accounts of the incident.

They said there was no police operation in Barangay Ermita last July 10.

The police team roamed the area “on their own agenda” and would arrest anyone suspected of being involved in the drug trade.

“In essence, the police narrative is only a figment of a fertile imagination to come up with a report to coverup their misdeeds,” the NBI 7 said. /