DoJ’s ‘Task Force Echanis’ gets green light

With the remains Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis released by the police to his family, the Department of Justice (DoJ) can now proceed with its investigation regarding the death of the deceased National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) earlier announced it had established the real identity of “Manuel Santiago,” one of the two men found dead inside a rented house in Novaliches, Quezon City earlier this week, to be indeed Echanis.

The confirmation was done through a fingerprint test.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra announced the issuance of DoJ Administrative Order (AO) 35 which gives the greenlight for the agency’s special investigating team to proceed with its probe to determine the circumstances which lead to Echanis’ death.

“I understand that the PNP (Philippine National Police) has released the body to the Echanis family upon verifying that the deceased was indeed Randall Echanis,” Guevarra, who also chairs the Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Judicial Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right of Life, Liberty and Security of Persons, said.

“In that case the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) need not do another verification, and the DoJ/AO 35 special investigation team may proceed to do its work,” he added.

I understand that the PNP has released the body to the Echanis family upon verifying that the deceased was indeed Randall Echanis.

The directive also means the NBI is no longer required to conduct an autopsy since NDFP peace consultant Echanis was confirmed as the person killed in Quezon City this week.

Echanis,72, was killed along with another person identified as Louie Tagapia, 48, inside their rented home in Barangay Nova Proper in Novaliches, Quezon City last Monday, 10 August.

The remains of Echanis was seized by QCPD operative even after it was already identified by his widow, Erlinda, arguing that an identification card found at the scene of the crime showed that the victim’s name was Manuel Santiago.

The QCPD Criminal Investigation Unit (CIDU) under PMAJ Elmer Monsalve, last 12 August received the copy of the result of the fingerprint cross-matching which stated that the fingerprint in the identification card bearing the name Randal Anacleto B. Echanis marked as “S-3” is identical with the right thumb appearing on the postmortem report marked as “S-2.”

Echanis, who was a long-time NDPF consultant and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms, was involved in the peace talks with the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2017.

He also served as chairman of the Anakpawis partylist prior to his death.