23 cops face dismissal over death of 'rubout' victim's aide

Twenty-three policemen have been slapped with administrative charges and may face dismissal from service in connection with the January 14 operation in Batangas province that led to the death of an alleged henchman of a suspected gambling lord. “The case was already filed yesterday (Wednesday) and depending on the summary hearing body, they could be dismissed from the service as penalty,” said Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), in an interview Thursday. Citing the investigation report from the Internal Affairs Service (IAS), Cerbo said the policemen did not properly perform the procedures in arresting Fernando Morales, alias Pandoy, in his house in San Juan town for alleged possession of unlicensed firearms. Morales was said to be the right-hand man of suspected gambling lord Vic Siman, who himself was killed along with 12 others in another controversial police operation on January 6 in Atimonan, Quezon. Cerbo said investigators found out that the policemen, in serving Morales' arrest warrant, used excessive force and didn't inform the suspect of the reason of his arrest. They also failed to read him the Miranda doctrine. Morales was also not immediately brought to the police station after the supposed arrest. Cerbo said one of the notable aggravating circumstances cited in the IAS report was the “employment of fraudulent means to conceal offense” when the policemen switched off the light and prevented the suspect's family to be with him at the time of his arrest. Morales' family claimed he was gunned down by the arresting team.   Charged with serious irregularities in the conduct of operation were Superintendent Raul Tacaca; Chief Inspectors Cristito Acohon and Rodolfo Ama; Inspector Kent Jerek Capadosa; SPO4 Arturo Patulot; SPO2 Edgardo Ilagan; SPO1s Edilberto Eje, Erwin Cetron, Rodrigo Arguelles and Gener Pineda; PO3s Danilo Piol, Allan Natanauan, Luis Alexander Capacia, Jonathan Cansanay, Mark Christopher Aala, Florencio Austria, Christian Caguimbal, Ruel Dimaano and Marlon Aguado; PO2 Reynold Ramirez, Bernie Alday and Herbert Rellora; and PO1 Michael de Castro. The same case was also slapped against Chief Superintendent Abner Dimabuyu and Senior Superintendent Rosauro Acio, but the penalty on them could be lighter as their lapses were on the aspect of command responsibility, Cerbo said.   “Two other ranking police officials, Dimabuyu and Acio, were also charged for failing to supervise their men in the operation,” he said.   “The two officials also failed to take corrective action by way of warning, advise, admonition, suggestion or disciplinary action to subordinates," Cerbo added, quoting the IAS report.   Acio was relieved from his post as director of the Batangas provincial police in connection with the incident, but was later reinstated after the probe revealed that he indeed tried to stop the operation.   Dimabuyu, on the other hand, was the Regional Special Operations Task Group commander of Batangas and the concurrent deputy regional chief for Operations of the CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group had earlier filed a case of murder against some of the policemen who took part in the operation. They were Superintendent Raul Tacaca, SPO2 Edgardo Ilagan, PO3 Jonathan Cansanay, PO3 Christian Caguimbal, and PO3 Florencio Austria. — KBK, GMA News