THE Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday said that there was an obvious overkill in the bloody incident in Atimonan, Quezon that killed 13 persons.

CHR chairman Loretta Ann Rosales said that police authorities used excessive force against the alleged group of criminals because 13 persons were felled in just three minutes based on the reports the agency received from its investigators.

With 13 fatalities on the side of the alleged armed men and only one injured policeman, Rosales said that there was violation of the principle of proportionality based on Republic Act 9851, the International Human Rights Law.

“Granting that the 13 killed who reportedly rode in two vans ignored the checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon, police should have tried to capture them alive instead of showing excessive force,” she said.

Rosales added that the lawmen at the checkpoint should have disabled the suspects’ vehicles before firing at the passengers.

“The police officers should have made it as a last option to kill the victims only out of self defense instead of using superior fire power as their main alternative,” she said, adding that the proper way to deal with people even if they are suspected criminals is to capture them, unharmed if possible and then file charges against them in court and let the natural judicial system take its course.

She said that police officers, when faced with resistance, should return fire with the purpose of immobilizing and not killing their adversaries.

 “Everyone even suspected criminals is deemed innocent unless proven otherwise,” Rosales said.
Rosales vowed to file charges against the police officers if it was proven that the incident was not a shootout.

She noted that she will have to wait for the result of the investigation to determine if the provincial police director or the regional police director should be liable for the death of the 13 suspects.

Residents warned
Based on the account of some residents, the incident may have been planned.

Some residents in the barangay where the bloody encounter occurred claimed that a day before the incident, some men were seen in the area warning locals that a shootout will occur the next day.

Sources said that an unnamed resident said that the men told them to stay indoors so that they will not be caught in the crossfire. It was not established if those who made the warning were policemen.

“‘Wag kayong lumabas sa bahay niyo magkakaputukan dito bukas [Do not go out of your houses because there will be a shootout here tomorrow],” the men reportedly told residents.

The police initially claimed that a shootout occurred after the alleged members of a crime syndicate fired at policemen and soldiers manning a checkpoint, however, relatives of some of the victims claimed that the incident was a rubout.