Kulot’s parents, 2 siblings placed under WPP

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday it has accorded protection to the parents and two siblings of slain teenager Reynaldo "Kulot" de Guzman.

Spouses Eduardo and Lina Gabriel and their minor children, aged 17 and 12, were placed under the provisional coverage of the DOJ's Witness Protection Program after the couple visited Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier in the day.

"I told the parents of 'Kulot' that they can trust the government’s Witness Protection Program or WPP. After all, WPP is the only entity empowered under Philippine laws to secure witnesses to a crime and to take care of them," Aguirre said.

De Guzman, the last person seen with Carl Angelo Arnaiz on August 18 before the 19-year-old student was killed in Caloocan, was found dead in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija on September 6.

The boy's body bore several stab wounds.

The Philippine National Police, however, came out on Monday with DNA test results reportedly showing that the body recovered from the creek was not that of the 14-year-old De Guzman.

De Guzman's parents, Eduardo and Lina Gabriel, and their legal counsel Public Attorney's Office (PAO), however, cried foul over the results and rejected the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group's request to claim their son's body for further examination.

De Guzman was laid to rest on Wednesday, a day before his parents filed a double murder complaint against Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Perez, Police Officer 1 Ricky Arquilita and taxi driver Tomas Bagcal with the DOJ.

The three men were also charged with torture and planting of evidence under Section 29 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 or Republic Act 9165 and Republic Act 10591 or Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

The DOJ has yet to assign a panel of prosecutors that will handle the preliminary investigation to determine whether charges should be filed in court against the respondents. — RSJ/KVD, GMA News