Top cop faces case for killing 6 in fake operations

MANILA: Charges of kidnapping with murder have been filed against a Philippine National Police (PNP) major and 10 of his men for the alleged killing of six suspects in “fabricated” anti-drug operations in Bulacan province in Central Luzon last February.

Named in the charges filed by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before the justice department was Major Leo dela Rosa, the former chief of the police intelligence and drug enforcement section of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan and 10 of his men.

Concerned quarters said the charges were reminiscent of claims of alleged rampant human rights violations arising from the “extra-judicial” killings of suspects in the ongoing bloody and violent campaign in the government’s war on illegal drugs.

In the charge sheet, the NBI said the six victims who were not known to one another were arrested on the night of Feb.13 as they were passing by a house in a “barangay” (village) in the city where Dela Rosa’s men had conducted the anti-drug operation.

The NBI said the six were the brought to Dela Rosa’s office at the police station where they were hogtied and blindfolded without being booked for any criminal offence.

In the days that followed, Dela Rosa and his men allegedly took the victims, two at a time to a dark and secluded area in one of the villages where they were shot dead and made to appear that they were armed and fought it out with the lawmen in the operation instead of surrendering, according to the NBI.

However, then bi added its agents later concluded that the killings arose from a “fabricated’ anti-drug campaign when families of at least two of the slain suspects sought their help for a further investigation because their relatives were not involved.

This came about when the Bulacan police issued several statements that the six suspects were slain in separate anti-drug operations and were also in the watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority.

For instance, the Bulacan provincial police said two of those slain, identified as Erwin Mergal and Chadwin Cordero, “shot it out with the operatives while trying to escape when they sensed they were dealing with a poseur police buyer, leaving the law enforcers no choice but to defend themselves.”

Human rights advocates said the Bulacan police statement was reminiscent of their frequent claims to justify such killings by pointing out that in many cases, most of the drug suspects were armed and shot it out with them.

Reports said Dela Rosa who has since been promoted as the head of the Drug Enforcement Group of the PNP regional police in Central Luzon, refused to comment, saying he has yet to see a copy of the NBI charges against him and his men.