Guevarra orders probe on Randy Echanis killing

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday he has ordered an investigation into the reported killing of peasant leader Randall "Randy" Echanis.

However, he said investigators will wait for Echanis' family to confirm that the man killed in Quezon City on Monday was indeed the Anakpawis chairman.

Guevarra said he has directed the AO 35 task force on extrajudicial killings (EJK) to form a special investigating team to look into the incident.

"It is necessary to confirm the identity of the victim before the task force on EJK starts its investigation of the incident. AO 35 covers the summary killings of persons on account of their advocacies, such as labor and peasant leaders, but not common crimes involving ordinary persons," Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

Administrative Order No. 35 mandates the use of the composite team approach in investigating and prosecuting grave human rights violations. This means prosecutors will supervise law enforcement officers investigating a crime.

Anakpawis party-list said on Monday that Echanis, a long-time peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and an unidentified neighbor were killed in a rented house in Novaliches.

Former Anakpawis representative Ariel Casilao said Echanis, 72, was undergoing medical treatment and unarmed when "police forces" raided his house.

But police claimed that the peasant leader was not among the two men killed in the house in Novaliches. Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo, chief of Quezon City police, identified the victims as Louie Tagapia and Manuel Santiago.

Echanis' widow, Erlinda, has said that it was her husband who was killed.

Erlinda's statement posted by Anakpawis on its Twitter account said Echanis' body "bore torture marks, multiple stab and gunshot wounds."

She claimed on Monday night that policemen "forcibly took" her husband's remains from the funeral parlor to return it to Pink Petal Funeral Homes in La Loma.

Despite Erlinda's identification, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said a "thorough forensic examination may be necessary" considering "questions" about the identity of the victim.

"We leave it to experts to complete this identification," he said.

The AO 35 secretariat is nonetheless preparing whether to include the case under their mechanism, Perete said.

A paralegal who was "keeping track" of Echanis' remains has been arrested, Anakpawis said Tuesday. — RSJ, GMA News