The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has started the conduct of an administrative investigation against a police lieutenant colonel and his wife tagged as responsible for the death of a police sergeant last month.

NCRPO director Brig. Gen. Anthony A. Aberin said the police lieutenant colonel and his wife are now under restrictive custody and were already slapped with a criminal case in connection with the death of 55-year old Police Executive Master Sergeant Emmanuel De Asis. 

“The suspects were immediately placed under restrictive custody. If evidence warrants and after the appropriate legal process are undertaken, the suspects involved should be dismissed from the service while facing the criminal cases against them,” said Aberin.

The police lieutenant colonel, assigned at the Police Community Relations of the Eastern Police District, admitted to killing de Asis inside their quarters at NCRPO headquarters in Taguig City on Nov. 28, but said it was because he caught him in an intimate situation with his wife.

The husband then ordered his wife, also a member of the PNP assigned to the Regional Mobile Forces Battalion of the NCRPO, to get a hacksaw. The body of de Asis was later dismembered, placed on two sacks, and later buried in Baguio City.

Aberin said he already tasked the SPD director, Brig. Gen. Bernard Yang, to ensure the meticulous and proper collection of pieces of evidence following established procedures. 

“Criminal cases to be filed should be airtight and unequivocally bring the suspects to conviction,” said Aberin.

“There will be no stone left unturned in this investigation.  The pieces of evidence are overwhelming and I specifically instructed concerned units to ensure the filing of airtight criminal and administrative cases against the suspects,” he added.

Trauma 

Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the wife of the police lieutenant colonel has been suffering from trauma over the incident.

She said the wife was with the husband during the trip to Baguio City to bury the cadaver of de Asis. 

Currently, police investigators have not properly talked with the wife of the police official. And the statement of the wife is essential in establishing whether or not the allegation of her husband is true. 

“So we have not yet obtained her version of the story. But what’s important here is we already established there is definitely murder in this case and then another case, the mutilation and possibly, the attempt to hide this incident,” said Fajardo.

Further investigation

De Asis was reported missing by his son, a police officer with a rank of Police Captain assigned to the Special Action Force.

Based on the background check, the victim went to Manila after he was granted a travel authorization from Nov. 28 to 30 for a supposed medical check-up.

The victim and the police official’s wife, according to the background investigation, were classmates in a schooling that started from April to November this year.

Fajardo said they are now conducting an investigation on whether or not there are other people involved in the incident.