|
Four of the suspects in a bank robbery, in which 10 persons were
murdered in cold blood, may have been executed later by police, the
country’s human rights commissioner alleged on Monday.
The chief of the Commission on Human Rights,
Leila de Lima, was quoted by local media as saying that the four
suspects behind the May 16 massacre at the Rizal Commercial Banking
Corp., or RCBC, in Cabuyao, Laguna, south of Manila, “could have
been rubbed out by policemen.”
De Lima said witnesses interviewed by the
commission’s initial reaction team claimed that the four men were
unarmed when slain by policemen last Thursday, the ABS-CBN
television website said in a posting.
According to her, the witnesses saw policemen
shoot the four suspects outside their homes while their hands were
raised. The four were identified as Vivencio Javier, Rolly Lachica,
Pepito Magsino and Angelito Malabanan.
“The policemen fired more shots when the
suspects were already lying down,” de Lima said, quoting
testimonies of witnesses to the killings in the village of Pagaspas,
near Tanauan City, Batangas, also south of Manila.
De Lima—who recently took over as head of the
government-funded rights commission—announced that the agency has
taken the witnesses under its protection and has asked the
Department of Justice to put them in the Witness Protection Program,
according to ABS-CBN.
The commission also asked the Philippine
National Police for the autopsy reports on the four suspects and has
called on police to provide the names of the officers involved in
the shooting.
Another suspect was also killed by policemen in
another alleged encounter last Wednesday, the ABS-CBN website said,
adding that de Lima claimed that the commission had information that
he was taken by officers before his death. This suspect was linked
to another massacre in Calamba.
Police claim P20 million was taken in the
robbery, although the bank has never confirmed this.
The Philippine National Police has assured de
Lima of the cooperation of its personnel in investigation of
the rights commission of the apparent extrajudicial killings of the
four suspected bank robbers.
“This [move] will give the concerned members
of Task Force RCBC the opportunity to present their side before a
proper forum, and clarify allegations made by families of the slain
suspects,” said the national police chief, Director General
Avelino Razon Jr.
He instructed Chief Supt. Ricardo Padilla,
regional director for Calabarzon, to account for all members of Task
Force RCBC who figured in recent police operations that led to the
alleged rubout. The bank was located in an economic zone in the
region, which groups Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.
Razon said he is confident that the rights
agency “will be circumspect and objective” in its investigation.
-- AFP With Maricel V. Cruz
|
