Marantan breaks silence, says Atimonan massacre normal police operation

From the Daily Tribune (Apr 24): Marantan breaks silence, says Atimonan massacre normal police operation

Beleaguered police officer Hansel Marantan has formally denied the multiple murder charges filed against him and other police and military men before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for the killings of more than a dozen men in Atimonan, Quezon on Jan. 6.

In his 22-page counter affidavit Marantan echoed his earlier insistence that the deaths of businessmen Vic Siman and his group occurred in a “legitimate operational plan formulated to neutralize syndicated and organized groups in the region.”

His fellow respondent, former Region IV-A police director Chief Supt. James Andres Melad, made the same claim.

“I merely acted in the fulfillment of my duty as a police officer, or in the lawful exercise of a right or office… The death of the 13 occupants was never planned. It was a chanced occurrence,” Marantan said.

Marantan, who remains confined at the Philippine National Police General Hospital, also challenged the credibility of the three eyewitnesses that led the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into concluding the incident was a “rubout.”

Citing lack of ample evidence, he also belied allegation that there was conspiracy among the uniformed men to kill Siman and his group stemming from a supposed turf war on jueteng operations in Southern Tagalog.

“I specifically and vehemently deny the motive imputed to me in the NBI executive report. The conclusions in the report are actually conjectures or speculations without any iota of evidence or proof, testimonial or documentary, adduced to support the same,” Marantan stressed.

Finally, he questioned the active participation of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in the NBI probe, pointing out that she even “acted as movie director, so to speak, during the re-enactment.”

“If truth be told, Secretary De Lima has been after my neck from the time she became the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights... in connection to a police operation sometime in 2005,” he alleged.

Marantan answered the charges before the DoJ despite his plea to suspend the preliminary investigation (PI) being conducted by a panel led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva.

In an urgent motion, he told the DoJ panel of a petition he filed with the Supreme Court (SC) last April 8 questioning the conduct of the NBI probe, which he said violated his constitutional right to due process.

He asked the panel to observe “judicial courtesy” and await the ruling of the high court on his petition before proceeding with the PI.

In his petition, Marantan asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the DoJ from proceeding with the PI.

He cited an earlier statement of De Lima that the incident was “definitely no shootout,” which he said was a “prejudgment of the case.”

He believes the DoJ should instead pass the case to the Office of the Ombudsman for a fair and just investigation.

Melad appeared before the DoJ to also deny the charges against them. He presented Supt. Glenn Dumlao, head of the Regional Public Safety Battalion of Region IV-A, as witness and insisted the operation was legitimate and sanctioned by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

The charges were filed last month after fact-finding probe of NBI showed — based on accounts of three eyewitnesses and physical and forensic evidence — that some of the victims were already lying on the ground, slumped on the seat or ready to surrender but were still shot dead by operatives.

Investigators, who pointed to “jueteng turf war” as possible motive behind the killings, also cited proofs of tampering of the crime scene.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/13286-marantan-breaks-silence-says-atimonan-massacre-normal-police-operation