Cops in Atimonan rubout reinstated

Superintendent Hansel Marantan and several other police officers implicated in the 2013 killing of 13 people in an alleged rubout in Atimonan, Quezon will soon return to the police service after they were reinstated by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) appellate board.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said yesterday that Marantan and the other officers were ordered reinstated after the board granted his appeal to return to the service.

Aside from Marantan, other officers ordered reinstated include Superintendent Ramon Balauag, Chief Superintendent Grant Gollod, Senior Inspector John Paolo Carracedo and Senior Inspector Timoteo Orig. A document obtained by

The STAR showed the reinstatement order was issued on Oct. 23.

“Dismissal of the following named PNP personnel assigned with HSS on March 5, 2014 as published in General Order 1590 NHQ PNP dated Oct. 8, 2014 is hereby lifted effective Oct. 4, 2017 Napolcom Adjudication Board Resolution dated Oct 4, 2017,” the document read.

“He (Marantan) made an appeal at the national appellate board. His appeal was granted so we have no other choice but to issue an order for his reinstatement,” Dela Rosa told reporters after the change of command ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Marantan and other police officers implicated in the reported rubout were ordered dismissed from the service in 2014 by then PNP chief Alan Purisima after they were found guilty of serious irregularity in the performance of duty.

Marantan and 10 other policemen were released from detention last March after the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 34 granted them bail.

He and the other police officers are facing multiple murder charges after they killed 13 people at a police checkpoint on Jan. 6, 2013 in Atimonan.

Marantan and the other accused claimed it was a shootout.

They said the 13 victims, on board a two-vehicle convoy, refused to stop at a checkpoint set up on Maharlika Highway and opened fire first, prompting the security team to return fire.

In response to news reports that Marantan will be assigned at the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), Dela Rosa said he has yet to get an update, admitting he could not recall if he already signed the reinstatement order for the controversial police official.

“I don’t know where he will be assigned,” Dela Rosa said.

Chief Superintendent Arnel Escobal, HPG director, said Marantan recently expressed his intention to be reassigned at their unit.

Escobal said Marantan was once a member of the HPG when the latter was still assigned in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region.

However, Escobal clarified nothing is concrete as they are still waiting for an order of reinstatement for Marantan.

“There is no reinstatement order yet,” Escobal said in a phone interview.