DILG, Sen. Lacson leave investigation into Parojinog raid with PNP

The Interior and Local Government Department (DILG) said on Sunday that it was up to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to decide whether to investigate the Ozamiz City raid, in which Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, his wife, and 10 others were killed.

DILG Assistant Secretary Ricojudge Echiverri said that the Ozamiz police had "probable cause" to serve multiple search warrants on the Parojinog properties early Sunday morning.

GMA 7 news program "24 Oras Weekend" also reported that the DILG had decided not to launch its own investigation into the raid.

Echiverri meanwhile added that the Parojinogs were issued fair warning when President Rodrigo Duterte identified them as alleged narcopoliticians.

Ozamiz City police commander Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido had said that the mayor and the other suspects had resisted violently, prompting the two-hour clash that left 15 dead.

Espenido could not confirm whether journalists were among the casualties in the raid

Meanwhile, Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chair Senator Panfilo Lacson conceded that it was possible the suspects resisted violently, and he thus issued no directives to conduct a probe.
   
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa likewise found nothing amiss with the police raid.

Ozamiz Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez and the city's legal representative earlier claimed that the police had planted evidence, and that the Parojinogs had been threatened with "liquidation"  months prior to the raid.

After the alleged discovery of illegal firearms and a kilogram of shabu during the raid, the police arrested the slain mayor's daughter Vice Mayor Parojinog-Echavez and his son Reynaldo Parojinog, Jr. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News