PNP-IAS STARTS PROBE ON BLOODY OZAMIZ RAID
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said he is saddened that lives were lost in the Ozamiz raid that ended in the death of the mayor, his wife and 13 other people, but the prelate urged the public to wait for the truth to come out during the investigation
The Philippine National Police (PNP) Internal Affairs Service (IAS) has started its investigation on last weekend’s bloody raid at the residence of Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr.
The pre-dawn raid last Sunday left 15 people dead, including the mayor, whose name had appeared in President Rodrigo Duterte’s “narco list.”
The Ozamiz raid saddened Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.
In an interview, Palma said that there are questions that need to be answered on the details of the police operation that ended in a bloody shootout.
“We are sad that lives have ended and a lot of people were killed. But we should wait for the real story and for the truth behind all of this,” said Palma.
PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said that the investigation is a standard police operating procedure in cases where there are casualties involved in operations.
On June 30, a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the city and provincial police stormed the compound of the Parojinog family in Ozamiz City but the operation turned violent after the mayor’s security team allegedly fired shots at the policemen.
The joint team of police operatives was to serve six search warrants against the mayor, his daugh- ter Ozamiz City Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez, son Reynaldo Jr., and Provincial Board Member Ricardo Parojinog.
The raid resulted in the killing of Mayor Parojinog, his wife, and 13 others.
Thirteen people were arrested, including Nova Princess and Reynaldo Jr.
Last Monday, Nova Princess, who was transferred to the Camp Crame in Quezon City together with her brother, claimed that the closed-circuit television cameras inside their house were cut by the raiding team to hide the irregularities committed during the raid.
Carlos said that members of the raiding team will be summoned once the PNP-IAS found irregularities in the operation.
However, Carlos said that the PNP Crime Laboratory, with the assistance of the CIDG, is still processing the evidence recovered during the raid, including the high-powered firearms and suspected illegal drugs.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, legal counsel of the Parojinogs, raised several points that he found irregular in the operation, including the disabling of the CCTV cameras, and said that the operation was “overkill.”
He said the police should not have cut the CCTV cameras in the house if they really were not trying to hide anything and if they really wanted to be transparent with their operation.
For Topacio, the operation was an “overkill,” citing that the mayor’s wife Susan could have been spared because she couldn’t have fired at the police.
“Babaeng matanda, alangan namang bumunot iyon ng M16, M14 at pagbabarilin ang mga pulis. Ma
layo pong mangyari,” said Topacio. PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa defended the operating team, saying what had happened in Ozamiz was a shootout between the operating team and members of the mayor’s security aides. /
I’m all for the war on drugs... but there is such a thing as justified killing, and there is such a thing as overkill.
ATTY. FERDINAND TOPACIO