MANILA – The police officers who opened fire and killed two drug suspects in an operation in Biñan City, Laguna last June 16 have been identified, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Eleazar said this was according to the results of the ballistics examination and the cross-matching on the slugs recovered from the bodies of 16-year-old Jhondie Helis and high-value target Antonio Dalit.
“The Regional Crime Laboratory Office (RCLO) of Police Regional Office (PRO) 4A reported that the slugs specimen taken from the cadaver of Jhondie Maglinte Helis matched with a cal. 45 gun submitted by one of the operatives with a rank of police senior master sergeant. A .45 caliber pistol owned by a police commissioned officer also matched a bullet recovered from Dalit’s body based on the same report of the RCLO4A,” Eleazar said.
A total of 11 firearms were submitted by the fact-finding body of the PRO 4A for ballistics examinations and cross-matching.
Both Helis and Dalit suffered two gunshot wounds based on the autopsy report of the RCLO4A. They both tested positive for gunpowder nitrates based on the paraffin test on their bodies.
Eleazar, however, said while the identities of the policemen were established, the missing part is the determination of whether or not there was indeed an exchange of gunfire between the police operatives and the two slain subjects of the police operation.
Another primary focus of the fact-finding investigation is looking into the allegation that Helis was handcuffed at the time he was shot.
“There’s a presumption of regularity in the conduct of this operation unless there are witnesses who could corroborate that there was no exchange of gunfire and that Helis was already handcuffed when he was repeatedly shot as claimed by the relatives,” Eleazar said.
He added that no witnesses have surfaced so far to substantiate the allegations.
“Our Internal Affairs Service investigators went to the house of the relatives to console their families and to ask for their statements of the incident, together with their witnesses but they refused," Eleazar said, quoting a report from Internal Affairs Service Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo.
He also reiterated his call for relatives of Helis and Dalit and other possible witnesses to come forward and give their statements to the different investigating bodies to help uncover the truth behind the incident. (PNA)
