Every so often, the public learns of a high ranking police or military officer who has a reputation for being “untouchable.” Sometimes, it is an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), or even a leader of a para-military group who can seemingly do no wrong.

For all intents, these untouchables act like Filipino versions of the fictional super spy 007. They appear to have a license to kill, and are protected by powerful men (and presumably women) who are not easily identified.

Recall that in the past, NBI agent Martin Soriano could get away with taking high-end vehicles that had been stolen or impounded. In a more grisly case, Norberto Manero was convicted of killing an Italian priest, and allegedly eating the cleric’s brains, but witnesses saw him in and out of the National Penitentiary, ostensibly to do the dirty work of some very powerful politicians.

Comes now Supt. Hansel Marantan who led the operation that resulted in the killing of 13 men who were described as dangerous criminals.

Based on his records, it is Marantan who should be suspected of being a dangerous criminal, albeit one who wears the uniform of a police officer. His background says that at the very least, he is one trigger-happy cop who has more than 30 notches in his gun.

Go back to the martial law era and we will see that there were a handful of police and military officers who could do no wrong as far as the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos was concerned. A few were connected with the hated and feared Metropolitan Command, or Metrocom.

In so many ways, they were the Marcos regime’s version of Iraq’s Republican Guard, who were Saddam Hussein’s military pet. Later, the Presidential Security Group would replace the Metrocom as the apple of Marcos’s eyes, and two sons of Gen. Fabian Ver – Irwin and Wyrlo—would lead the elite team.

Fast forward to a decade ago, and there were still officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who could get away with murder…literally. Gen. Jovito Palparan was one of the most feared officers of the AFP because he gave himself the power of life and death over men and women who were simply suspected of being communists or communist sympathizers. It was during his heyday that scores of idealistic youngsters disappeared, never to be seen again.

Where are they now?
The fates of these untouchables vary.

Soriano is presently detained and facing multiple charges. Palparan is in hiding. The Ver siblings are now based in the States. Manero has served his time and is now a senior citizen, theoretically living a peaceful life in his hometown.

And what of Marantan?

While the police officer was injured in the alleged encounter—which is beginning to look more and more like a rubout—he should not be considered a hero. Far from it. Marantan has cases aplenty, and some involve his alleged killing of defenseless suspects.

The fact that the vehicles he used during the Atimonan operation were recovered carnapped vehicles says that he is no different from previous hoodlums in uniform before him.

Why he remains in service is a question that the Department of Interior and Local Government should answer. At the very least, he should have been kept in the freezer until all his previous cases, and they are numerous, are settled.

Instead, this trigger happy officer was able to lead an encounter that the Commission on Human Rights has referred to as a case of overkill.

There is a Filipino term used for the likes of Marantan, Palparan, and others like them—utak pulbura, or gunpowder brains.

It is worrisome that the AFP and the PNP should still have such officers in their ranks. Reports say that Marantan was well connected, which explains why he was still on active duty when he should have been placed under preventive suspension.

Now, the injured Marantan has finally been placed in limbo. It may be a case of too little, too late.

The jury is still out on whether the 13 men who were killed by Marantan and his crew were hardened criminals or not. But granting for the sake of argument that they were indeed the hired hands of a gambling lord, surely the fate that befell them was uncalled for in a supposedly democratic, civilized and rule-of-law compliant state.

They were not given the chance to surrender. There was no chance for them to survive the hail of bullets—close to 200 in the case of the first vehicle—that met them after they allegedly ignored the checkpoint.

Culture of impunity
A can of worms has been opened with the revelations regarding the Atimonan encounter. The PNP leadership has a lot of explaining to do. Why they allowed an officer with gunpowder brains to ignore standard procedures and go on a killing spree is on top of that list.

But there is a couple of questions that has an immediate answer. Why do these things keep happening? Why are there untouchables? Answer: Because, alas, the culture of impunity prevails in the Philippines.