Mom of 17-yr-old DOTA player killed in alleged shootout files murder raps vs. Pangasinan cops

The mother of the 17-year-old boy killed in an alleged shootout with policemen in Rosales, Pangasinan last year filed murder charges at the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday against the cops involved in the incident.

Christine Pascual, mother of Joshua Laxamana, named Rosales Municipal Police’s Chief Inspector John Corpuz and his men, Police Officer 2 Arvin Abella and PO2 Roy Sarmiento as respondents in her complaint-affidavit.

Pascual was accompanied by National Union of People’s Lawyers-National Capital Region secretary general Maria Kristina Conti, who said the police spot report itself tagged Abella and Sarmiento as the culprits behind the killing of Laxamana.

“Tingin namin yung dalawang pumatay should be directly liable for murder, and also the police chief. Pinakamabigat na ebidensya ay yung police report, yung mismong spot report nila ang nakalagay dun sila Abella at Sarmiento. At the minimum that is homicide,” Conti said.

Corpuz, Abella, and Sarmiento were also charged for planting of evidence.

Other respondents in the case include PO2 Ronald Casareno, SPO3 Oliver Vingua, SPO1 Hilario Taquiqui Jr. The doctor who autopsied the body of Laxama, Dr. Adan Arlie Guieb, was also sued for obstruction of justice.

According to reports, Laxamana was an alleged Akyat Bahay gang member who ignored a police checkpoint and fired shots at manning police officers in Barangay Poblacion, Balungao before he was killed on Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway (TPLEx) access road on August 17, 2018.

Police also accused Laxamana of being involved in four “akyat-bahay” burglaries in Pangasinan.

Laxamana was supposedly on his way home from Baguio then with his friend Julius Sebastian, who remains missing, after playing a tournament for multiplayer online battle arena game Defense of the Ancients 2  in Baguio City.

Pascual refuted the police reports, saying her son was never involved in any crime nor was he a member of any Akyat Bahay gang.

Pascual said Laxamana had no access to guns or illegal drugs and his daily activities would only revolve around home, school, and the computer shop to play DOTA.

“Gawa-gawa ang lahat ng ebidensya laban kay Joshua. Tinanim lamang ng pulis ang baril at di umano shabu sa kanya; puro kasinungalingan ang salaysay ng mga pulis para pagtakpan ang pagpatay nila kay Joshua,” she said in her complaint.

Conti, for her part, said the secondary autopsy conducted by Dr. Raquel Fortun showed Laxamana had defensive wounds on his body. She said: “It may be a defense type of injury kasi ang pagtama on defense mode.”

“Ang iba pang tama ni Joshua ay sa dibdib. Ang una kasing target ng pulis you have to immobilize the shooter. Dibdib kaagad at yung isa tumama na mismo sa lungs niya,” Conti said. — MDM, GMA News