Laguna cops insist 16-year-old killed in legitimate op; netizen takes video of operation

The Laguna Provincial Police insisted that their operation that led to the killing of a 16-year-old Jhondy Maglinte Helis in Biñan City was a legitimate police operation.

According to John Consulta's Friday a 24 Oras report, police video-documented their operation which was directed against drug suspect Antonio Castillo Dalit.

After disguising themselves as construction workers, Laguna Intelligence Branch police officers approached the target area in the middle of a field.

A few moments later,  gunshots were heard, and Dalit and Jhondy were killed.

In a video taken by netizen Rhenniel Molase just 100 meters away from Dalit's home, shooting could be heard.

With gunfire in the background, a male voice could be heard: "Wala na, patay na yung naglalabas niyan."

Other voices chimed, "Wala na oh, patay na si Jhondy! Patay na si Jhondy!"

A female then said, "Patay na sila! Pinagpapatay na! Nakatayo pa si Jhondy kanina!"

In yet another video taken in the late evening after the police operation, Helis' body was being retrieved from the grassy field.

Two firearms and some sachets of alleged shabu were recovered from the crime scene.

"Jhondy was said to be the right-hand man or runner of alias Tala (Dalit). He was alias Tala's trustee in their illegal drugs operation," said Police Lieutenant Colonel Chit Gaoiran, spokesperson of the Laguna Provincial Police in Filipino.

However, Helis' family and some witnesses said that Jhondy did not resist arrest. Furthermore, they insisted that the boy did not know how to fire a gun. 

"Hindi po totoo yun (na naglaban siya), Sir," said Jhondy's spouse. "Hindi po marunong humawak ng baril yung asawa ko."

"May tumakbo po sa amin para magsumbong," she added. "Ginagamit nga po ng droga."

Furthermore, the family was perplexed over how Jhondy could have caught up in the police operation given that Dalit was not a relative, and Jhondy had had nothing to do with Dalit, contrary to what the police claimed. — Jamil Santos/DVM, GMA News