THE National Bureau of Investigation yesterday filed murder and other charges against six policemen from the Jolo, Sulu municipal police station and three members of the Sulu provincial drug enforcement unit for the killing of four Army intelligence operatives on the trail of a suspected Abu Sayyaf suicide bomber last month.
Charged for four counts of murder and planting of evidence before the Department of Justice were Senior MSgt. Abdelzhimar Pajiri; MSgt. Hanie Badirri; SSgts. Iskandar Susulan, Ernisar Sappal and Almudzrin Hadjaruddin; Cpl. Sulki Andaki; and Patrolmen Muhammad Nur Pasani, Rajiv Putalan and Alkajal Mandangan.
Hadjaruddin, Mandangan and Putalan are from the Sulu provincial drug enforcement unit. They are under the custody of the PNP Headquarters Support Service in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Murder is a non-bailable offense under the Revised Penal Code.
Charged for neglect of duty were Sulu police provincial office chief, Col. Michael Bawayan, Jolo police chief, Maj.Walter Annayo, and Sulu provincial drug enforcement unit chief, Capt. Ariel Corcino.
Killed were Army Maj. Marvin Indammog, Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Eric Velasco and Cpl. Abdul Asula dead.
“After a thorough perusal of the records of this case, we are convinced that the evidence presented amply demonstrates that the victims were killed and that it was the nine police officers who killed them. The nine police officers simultaneously attacked the victims who were not given the opportunity to defend themselves,” the NBI said.
“There can be no question that the acts of the police officers constitute positive and overt acts towards the realization of a common criminal intent, although the intent may be classified as instantaneous.The act was impulsively done on a spur of the moment,” it added.
As to alleged planting of evidence, the NBI said Indammog did not carry a rifle when he alighted from the vehicle, and that based on witnesses accounts and additional pieces of evidence, “it could be concluded that the rifle recovered near his left hand was indeed planted.”
The NBI said Bawayan, Annayo and Corcino failed to inform their subordinates of the “active military operation” of the slain Army officers, and that their failure constitutes negligence under the “doctrine of command responsibility.”
Last week, the nine policemen declined to submit a statement to the NBI which is conducting an investigation on the shooting incident.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the ballistic report submitted by the NBI showed the slain Army officers sustained gunshot wounds mostly in the back.
The NBI did not conduct an autopsy on Asula as he was buried immediately in accordance with Islamic traditions that called for the dead to be buried within 24 hours after their death.
