Police chief downplays claims linking Caloocan cops to Kulot slay

The Caloocan City police chief on Friday downplayed claims linking his men to the killing of 14-year-old Reynaldo "Kulot" de Guzman, the friend Carl Angelo Arnaiz was last seen with whose body with multiple stab wounds was found in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija on September 6.

In an interview on "Unang Balita", Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo, newly installed Caloocan City police chief, said that Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta's claims  - that De Guzman's death was possibly an attempt to cover the tracks of the perpetrators of Arnaiz's killing - was just her interpretation of the evidence in the case.

"That is her interpretation kasi papaano natin ma-conclude na dito nangyari sa Caloocan na hindi naman sila nag-surface dito.  Actually, there are some questions if we initiated some investigation regarding the death of alias Kulot," said Modequillo.

"Kulot/De Guzman was first seen in Cainta and last seen in Nueva Ecija," he added.

Earlier, Acosta said that based on initial evidence gathered by PAO, De Guzman was possibly silenced for his possible knowledge of the circumstances  surrounding Arnaiz's death.

But Modequillo insisted that the Caloocan police should be out of the picture in the De Guzman killing.

"Kung titingnan mo diyan, set aside kami doon sa insidente. Ang ginagawa naman ng PAO ay nili-link tayo. Ang sabi natin sana wag naman kaagad maging conclusive ang kanilang imbestigasyon."

He also questioned some of PAO's assumptions and seemingly premature conclusion based on the pieces of evidence regarding the deaths of the two.

Acosta was quoted as saying that Arnaiz and De Guzman were seen together on the night they had gone missing, and that the assumption that the killers of Arnaiz were the same ones that did in De Guaman was possible. 

Modequillo however pointed out that the two were last seen in Cainta and not in Caloocan.

"Ang sinabi natin, huling nakitang nagsasama si Kulot at Carl is within Cainta... pero marami silang barkada at marami silang naririnig about the word pangho-hold up ...so what if kung ang huli nilang pagsama ay may sinamahan si Kulot  at si Carl ay nagsosolo?" Modequillo added.

Doctor  Erwin Erfe, director of PAO's forensic laboratory, had said that Arnaiz was killed in Caloocan, in a shootout with the police, after a failed robbery.

De Guzman's body was seen in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, with his body bearing multiple stab wounds and his head wrapped in packaging tape. —LBG/KVD, GMA News