11 cops in missing sabungeros case face charges for other abductions in 2021

The National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) on Tuesday filed administrative charges against 11 cops linked to the missing sabungeros case for other alleged abductions in 2021.

NAPOLCOM’s Inspection Monitoring and Investigation Service (IMES) filed the administrative charges against the police officers before the Commission’s Legal Affairs Service after finding “probable cause.”

“As a result of our pre-charge investigation, we found out, dahil nga doon sa probability na may kidnapping na nangyari, we will be filing two counts of grave misconduct,” IMES Staff Service Director Edman Pares said in a press conference before the filing.

(As a result of our pre-charge investigation, we found out, because of the probability that a kidnapping occurred, we will be filing two counts of grave misconduct.)

“At dahil nga po doon sa act ng grave misconduct, meron din po kaming ifa-file na two counts of conduct unbecoming of a police officer,” he added.

(And because of the act of grave misconduct, we will also be filing two counts of conduct unbecoming of a police officer.)

The charges against the cops stemmed from the complaint-affidavit filed by the parents of missing persons Charles Dean Sotto and Dane Mark Carlos last September. 

In July, the Department of Justice said it was looking into the possible link of the missing sabungeros case to the extrajudicial killings during the drug war.

“I think that the death squads... the people who undertake the contractual killings may intersect somehow with the drug war and with the e-sabong. May mga taong parang involved sa pagpatay sa drug war at sa e-sabong,” then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

(The people who undertake the contractual killings may intersect somehow with the drug war and with the e-sabong. Some people seem to be involved in the killings both in the drug war and e-sabong.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News