Court orders lawman’s arrest for boy’s slay

The police officer in Tondo, Manila who was charged with homicide for shooting a 13-year-old boy was ordered arrested by a Manila regional trial court (RTC) after it found probable cause to proceed with his trial.

Manila RTC Branch 12 Presiding Judge Renato Enciso issued a warrant for Police Officer 3 Omar Malinao’s arrest on Sept. 11 in connection with the killing of Aldrinne Pineda. He set bail at P120,000.

Enciso said after carefully reviewing the case, he is “convinced that there is reasonable ground to believe that the said crime was indeed been committed and the accused is probably guilty thereof.”

Malinao was indicted in court, after Manila assistant city prosecutor Aquil Ismael filed the complaint against him for homicide for allegedly firing his gun and hitting Pineda, who was at the time hanging out at a hole in a wall in Vitas, Tondo on March 2.

In his affidavit, Malinao said he tripped and accidentally fired his gun. He later claimed it was a masked man and not him who fired the shots.

Pineda’s father Allan, a Tokhang surrenderer, earlier told

that his son tagged a police officer as the one who shot him that night in Tondo.

“Pa, binaril ako. Pa, pulis (Pa, I was shot. Pa, police),” Allan quoted his son as saying, before rushing him to the Tondo Medical Center where the boy died. –