3rd witness to debunk shootout claim in Atimonan bloodbath surfaces

A third witness has surfaced to corroborate the statements of two other people that led Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to conclude that the January 6 bloodbath in Atimonan, Quezon, was not the result of a shootout. In a chance interview with reporters Wednesday, De Lima said National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Nonnatus Rojas informed her Tuesday night that the third passenger of a truck that was passing by the checkpoint where the 13 victims were flagged down and allegedly shot in cold blood had already showed up to give his testimony. Two people on that truck — the driver and a helper — had earlier surfaced and helped NBI investigators in the re-enactment of the incident that police and military personnel manning the checkpoint said was a shootout between them and members of a gun-for-hire group. “It was reported to me last night by Director Rojas 'yung pangatlo na sakay nung truck na finally lumantad na rin. Nasabi ko na 'yan sa inyo na dapat tatlo dapat sila na nakasakay sa truck. 'Yung driver, 'yung helper saka 'yung supervisor. 'Yung supervisor hindi kaagad lumantad," De Lima said. "Finally yesterday pumunta na sa NBI at nag-execute na rin ng statement. His statement corroborates 'yung mga accounts nung dalawang eyewitnesses," she added. De Lima described the statement of the third witness as "revealing and material." During the re-enactment, De Lima told reporters that she thought the encounter was "definitely not a shootout." She made the statement even if the NBI, the sole agency authorized to probe the incident, has yet to wrap up its investigation. The NBI is a constituent agency under the Department of Justice (DOJ). She also brushed off statements from laywer Crisanto Buela, who represents the soldiers and policemen implicated in the bloodbath, that the re-enactment turned into a "circus" and claimed there were mistakes in it. "Ang nagsasabi nun wala dun. Seryoso 'yung re-enactment," De Lima said. De Lima also said it was "not proper to say something categorical" about reports quoting an NBI that eventual charges stemming from the bloodbath would not reach the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, the body that supposedly approved the operation. The January 6 encounter was reportedly part of Coplan Armado targeting members of a supposed gun-for-hire group led by alleged jueteng operator Victor Siman who, along with 12 others, was killed in the Atimonan bloodbath. De Lima also said she wants to know who among the soldiers linked to shootings was able to convince alleged eyewitness Rolando Boncayo Vico to surface and contradict statements of the earlier witness, claiming that it was the victims who fired first at the authorities manning the checkpoint before the supposed encounter ensued. — KBK, GMA News