The Department of Justice (DOJ) has assigned a panel of prosecutors to conduct the preliminary investigation (PI) of the murder complaint filed against 17 policemen reportedly involved in the killing of a couple during the March 7, 2021 operations to ferret out persons suspected of affiliations with communist groups in Southern Tagalog provinces.
The joint police-military operations in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal resulted in the deaths of nine activists and injuries to several others.
The deaths in the operations are being probed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which is a member of the AO 35 Inter-Agency Committee on Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.
Charged with murder by the NBI before the DOJ were members, at the time of the operations, of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in Region IV-A.
They were identified in the complaint as PLtCoL. Joseph Nandu Jr., PLt. Arjay Santos, PMSg. Rafael Roque, PMSg. Mark Tolentino, PSSg. Elvern Cacatian, PSSg. Rodel Sillacay, PSSg. Edgar Brinas, PCpl. Aldrin Gabrillo, PCpl. Allen Lugue, Pat. Julio Bautista, Pat. Ray Boom Boom Dalingay, Pat. Grizzly Paras, Pat. Rogelio Ninolla, Pat. Ruel Tenoso, Pat. Rich John Melniel Tumacder, Pat. Renzo Santos, and Pat. Mark Lester Padul.
Assistant State Prosecutor Honey Rose E. Delgado, spokesperson of the DOJ’s Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), on Wednesday, Jan. 19, said that Prosecutor General Benedicto A. Malcontento himself assigned the prosecutors who will comprise the panel.
Delgado did not identify the members of the investigating panel.
She said the panel has yet to issue subpoenas to the 17 respondents as no setting has been made yet for the start of the preliminary investigation.
“No setting yet sa PI but we will coordinate with the panel kung kailan sila mag-set (No setting yet for the PI but we will coordinate with the panel as to when they will set it),” she assured.
The murder complaint involved the deaths of spouses Ariel Evagelista and Ana Mariz Lemita-Evangelista who were killed in Nasugbu, Batangas while police were serving search warrants against them.
“This filing comes as the culmination of months of tireless work on the part of the Administrative Order No. 35 (s. 2012) Special Investigation Team that conducted the investigation and case buildup with the valuable and diligent assistance of the NBI,” the DOJ earlier said in an earlier statement.
“The DOJ, as chair-agency of the AO 35 Inter-Agency Committee, will now begin the preliminary investigation of the case in earnest, with all due consideration to the families of the victims and the constitutional rights of the alleged perpetrators,” it added.