Killing of 13 men in Atimonan 'not justified' — NBI exec

From GMA News (Jan 14): Killing of 13 men in Atimonan 'not justified' — NBI exec

The killing of 13 men in last week's supposed shootout in Quezon province was “not justified,” according to a ranking official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), citing partial results of the ongoing probe. “Parating tinatanong kung rubout ba ito o encounter. At this time, kung ako ang tatanungin on whether the killing is justified or not, tingin ko hindi,” NBI deputy director for regional operations services Virgilio Mendez told GMA News Online in a phone interview. “They [law enforcers] might be claiming that they were performing their law enforcement duties. Basta ang sa akin, sa tingin ko the killing was not justified,” he added.

Mendez said his initial evaluation on the Quezon incident was based on the re-autopsy of the fatalities' bodies, ballistics examinations, and statements gathered by the bureau from civilian and police witnesses. “I have basis on saying this. Hindi naman puwedeng opinyon ko lang ito. This is based on the evidence we have so far,” he said.

On January 7, thirteen men—including an environmentalist and two policemen on active duty—were killed by law enforcers after their two-vehicle convoy allegedly ignored a first checkpoint in Atimonan town. Police initially said the fatalities were members of a gun-for-hire group — a claim denied by the slain men's relatives.

An initial investigation by the NBI, which was tasked by President Benigno Aquino III to be the sole investigating body on the incident, indicated that most gunshots did not come from the victims. Based on shells recovered at the scene of the incident, those inside the vehicles fired only 10 shots.

In their inspection of one of the two bullet-riddled vehicles used by the victims, the NBI team found out that there were more than 214 entry points and 96 exit points in one of the vehicles, which used a commemorative plate from the Philippine National Police (PNP). In the second vehicle with no license plate, there were 59 entry points and 33 exit points.

A Philippine Star report published Monday quoted a police official privy to the PNP fact-finding investigation as saying that the initial facts on the incident “indicate the possibility that an ambush occurred instead of a shootout.”

Subpoenas for senior officials

In a separate television interview aired over GMA News' “24 Oras” on Monday night, Mendez said he “doubts” that the fatalities were killed in a shootout, although he added that “ambush may not be the appropriate word” to describe the Quezon incident. He said that the bureau has already summoned 12 high-ranking police and military officials to get their testimonies. These officials include Region IV-A police director Chief Superintendent James Melad, Quezon provincial police head Senior Superintendent Valeriano de Leon, and Superintendent Hansel Marantan, the intelligence officer who was the only one injured during the supposed shootout. Mendez also said that he expects the NBI report on the Quezon incident to be completed and submitted to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima by Friday.

Report to be reformatted

PNP Director General Alan Purisima, for his part, said that he decided to return the report of the police fact-finding team to the probers for reformatting. “Hindi po maganda 'yung organization... I gave them up to this day to reformat their report to me and be clear on what they are (threading) in their report,” Purisima said at a briefing on Monday afternoon. “Kung magbabasa ka kasi, gusto mo sana kapag binasa, naintindihan mo kahit hindi ka imbestigador,” he added. Purisima saisd the PNP is “fully cooperating” with the NBI to find out what really took place during the incident.

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