The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will no longer conduct an autopsy now that it has been confirmed that National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randall “Randy” Echanis was the person killed in Quezon City this week.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra previously said that the NBI will have to conduct an autopsy of the body to determine its identity before the DOJ’s AO 35 Task Force will proceed with the investigation.
The 72-year-old NDFP peace consultant was killed along with another person identified as Louie Tagapia, 48, inside their rented home in Barangay Nova Proper in Novaliches, Quezon City last Monday, Aug. 10.
“I understand that the PNP (Philippine National Police) has released the body to the Echanis family upon verifying that the deceased was indeed Randall Echanis,” said Guevarra, chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Judicial Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right of Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.
“In that case the NBI need not do another verification, and the DOJ/AO 35 special investigation team may proceed to do its work,” he pointed out.
The inter-agency committee was formed back in 2012 pursuant to Administrative Order (AO) 35 issued by then President Benigno Aquino III.
Even though the remains of Echanis was identified by his wife Erlinda, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) seized the body to verify its identity after an identification card showed that the victim’s name was Manuel Santiago.
The QCPD eventually released the remains after a finger cross-matching was conducted and showed that the person was indeed Echanis.
Echanis, who was a long-time NDPF consultant and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms, was involved in the peace talks with the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2017.
He was also the deputy secretary general of militant peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and a former Anakapwis nominee in the 2010 elections.