Valenzuela City police chief assures justice for slain PWD in tupada raid
The police chief of Valenzuela City has assured the public of fair investigation into the death of an 18-year-old person with special needs who was killed allegedly by one of his men in an illegal tupada or cockfighting raid.
Lt. Col. Ramchrisen Haveria gave the assurance as the city police station started its own investigation on the criminal charges filed against Senior Master Sergeant Christopher Salcedo even as the National Bureau of Investigation has already been tapped to probe the case.
"Nakita naman po ninyo...napakahigpit po ng ating chief PNP (Philippine National Police) pati po itong kasama sa NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office)... Ang aming regional director, napakahigpit po nyan (You can see how strict our PNP chief and NCRPO director are.)," Haveria said in TeleRadyo interview Thursday.
"Hindi po sila mag-totolerate. Kaya yun din po yung gagawin ko... lalo na bago ako (bilang police chief), sino po ba sila para protektahan ko (They won't tolerate any wrongdoing, which I will also do, especially that I am just a newly installed police chief. Who are they to be protected?)," he added.
Haveria gave the family of Edwin Arnigo, a man with autism who was allegedly shot dead by Salcedo, his assurance of support and justice.
The police chief also called on other witness to speak up about the incident.
"Sabi namin palutangin po para makuhanan namin ng statement (We encourage the witnesses to speak up)," Haveria said as he acknowledged that some witnesses are afraid of speaking up against the police.
Police asserted that Arnigo engaged Salcedo in a gun scuffle that led to his death. But the victim's family said Arnigo was afraid of cops so he could not get near them.
An eyewitness also said they saw Salcedo shooting Arnigo before dragging him into a cockfighting site, Mayor Rex Gatchalian told reporters.