By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to comply with a 2017 Supreme Court (SC) order and produce the final investigation reports on the 2016 killing of four men in Quezon City who were among the earliest deaths in the previous administration’s Oplan Tokhang.
The six-page resolution, dated Jan. 3, was issued pursuant to the writ of amparo protection order handed down by the SC for implementation by the CA to Efren Morillo, the lone survivor in the incident.
“Wherefore, the Philippine National Police, through the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, is directed to inform the Court whether or not the investigation of the subject incident has been completed. It is further ordered to furnish the Court and the petitioners with copies of the report of final investigation within ten (10) days from notice,” the court said in the resolution.
“If the investigation is not yet complete or final, it is nevertheless ordered to furnish the Court and the petitioners with copies of the latest reports and other documents pertaining to the investigation in the past eight (8) years, also within ten (10) days from notice.”
The case involves the deaths of Raffy Gabo, Anthony Comendo, Marcelo Daa Jr., and Jessie Cule who were shot dead during a police operation in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City on Aug. 21, 2016.
Morillo, who survived a gunshot wound to the chest, subsequently obtained a writ of amparo from the SC to protect him.
The SC’s permanent protection order prohibited four identified police officers from entering an area 1 km. from the residences and workplaces of Morillo and the surviving relatives of the victims who were also petitioners in the case.
The SC also ordered that the police officers concerned be reassigned to offices outside Quezon City and Montalban, Rizal and that Oplan Tokhang be suspended with respect to the petitioners.
Morillo, who remains under the protection of the Commission on Human Rights, has requested a copy of the investigation reports of the incidents and the charges, if any, that were filed against the police officers involved.
The petitioners then filed a motion before the SC, seeking the full and final results of the investigation of the incident, which caused the death of the four victims and the frustrated killing of Morillo.
In its resolution, the CA noted that an “initial” report submitted by the PNP in 2017 “were by no means final and complete to apprise the petitioners of what happened that fateful day of 21 August 2016, nor were they adequate to inform them of the actions taken by the PNP against police officers involved in the incident.” (PNA)
