Policemen barged into his house in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City, while his mother and grandmother pleaded for his life. Moments later, the unarmed 22-year-old drug suspect was shot thrice.
He also lost a tooth. A Philippine National Police (PNP) report said the suspect tried to engage their operatives in a shootout.
But weeks of investigation proved otherwise, according to the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7).
CHR-7 has found sufficient basis to charge two Cebu City policemen for the murder of Jerald Cedeño, a food vendor who reportedly dabbled in the illegal drugs trade as a casual shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) user.
In the first ever case of extrajudicial killing under the Duterte administration elevated by CHR for prosecution in the region, murder charges were filed against SPO2 Renante Nioda, a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), and PO2 Arnold Cabildo of the Cebu City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas last Sept. 22, exactly two months after the incident.
A copy of the murder complaint filed by the victim’s mother, Patricia Cedeño, and subscribed to by CHR-7, was secured by Cebu Daily News on Wednesday.
In separate sworn statements against the two cops, Patricia and the victim’s grandmother, Nicolasa Inesola, requested Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente to hold the two respondents liable for murder and grave misconduct.
According to Patricia, at around 6 o’clock in the evening last July 23, SPO2 Nioda and PO2 Cabildo went into their house in Barangay Tisa and angrily looked for her son, Jerald.
Patricia said that Jerald, who was taking a bath, was forced to go out of the bathroom wearing his short pants; while SPO2 Nioda, a former neighbor, went ahead to search his bedroom without a warrant from the courts.
As the two cops searched for a gun but could not find one, PO2 Cabildo repeatedly flicked the earlobe of her son, Patricia said.
“I begged (SPO2) Renante (Nioda) not to hurt my son. I told him that if my son committed a crime, they could arrest him and put him in prison, but I asked them not to hurt him,” the 50-year-old mother told CDN in Cebuano.
Although the search yielded no firearm, she said the two policemen still clasped Jerald’s arms and brought him outside the house.
Patricia told CDN that as one of the cops was a former neighbor, she did not think that Jerald would be killed.
So she went into a room to change her wet clothes while Jerald’s 74-year-old grandmother, Nicolasa, quickly got her cane to catch up with the policemen.
In just minutes, bursts of gunfire were heard and Nicolasa saw her grandchild lying dead on the ground.
Self defense
SPO2 Nioda reportedly told a stunned Nicolasa that Jerald had tried to shoot him and PO2 Cabildo.
But while waiting for Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) to arrive, SPO2 Nioda and PO2 Cabildo allegedly put a gun beside Jerald’s body and a small plastic sachet of shabu on his left.
Patricia said that they also later discovered that P8,000 cash which Nicolasa gave to Jerald for the repair of his motorcycle was missing from his room.
Patricia believes that Nioda stole the money when the policeman went searching for a gun.
An autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) showed two gunshot wounds on Jerald’s chest and one on his left shoulder.
There were abrasions on his forehead, nose, and upper lip. He also lost a tooth.
His grief-stricken mother said Jerald, who would have turned 23 years old yesterday, used shabu for two years due to peer influence; but he was never involved in peddling illegal drugs.
“Wala ko kasabot sa akong gibati. Dako ko og pangandoy sa akong anak unya gikuha lang nila og ingon niana kasayon. Daw mananap ang ilang gipatay (I don’t understand what I feel. I had high expectations for my son but they just easily took his life as if he was an animal),” Patricia told CDN.
“I want justice for my son. I will not stop until we’ll have it,” she added.
The Cedeños’ decided to seek CHR-7’s help, hoping for that justice.
Ombudsman in Manila
CHR-7 expects that from the Visayas Ombudsman, the case of Cedeño will be forwarded to the Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) based in Manila since the matter involved policemen.
According to CHR-7 chief investigator Leo Villarino, the case is just one of 172 cases being studied by CHR-7 for bearing marks of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the region.
Most of these cases tagged policemen for the murders, said Villarino, as about 40 police offices in the region had already been required by CHR-7 to submit reports on suspected cases of extrajudicial killings involving their men.
Of the cases being studied by CHR, eight individuals personally appeared before the commission to file formal complaints against cops.
“We started out very rough. We began with just two complainants out of more than a hundred deaths. As months go on, however, others were encouraged to come to our office,” said Villarino while admitting that killings involving unknown assailants were, however, tough to resolve.
“Cases like these take a back seat in our investigation. It’s really hard. We don’t have any starting point unless a witness comes forward to identify the assailants,” he said.
Police statistics
Based on records of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), a total of 109 drug suspects were killed in alleged shootouts with policemen from July 1 to Sept. 26.
At least 129 other drug suspects were gunned down by still unknown assailants. These cases were docketed as “Death Under Investigation” by the police.
In an interview yesterday, the director of the Cebu City Police Office, Senior Supt. Joel Doria, defended policemen accused of killing drug suspects.
“We never wanted to kill drug suspects. Our aim is to arrest them. We don’t want them to die because we could get many information from them if they are alive,” Doria said.
“But if they want to shoot it out with the police, then our operatives won’t have any other choice but to shoot back,” he added.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, the director of PRO-7, has consistently maintained that drug suspects killed by policemen placed the lives of the operatives in danger.
”You know that those into illegal drugs are paranoid. If they hear any commotion, they think they are being hunted down. They are willing to shoot it out with the police,” Taliño had said.
The police chief also assured cops in the region not worry about lawsuits from people claiming to be victims of police brutality and abuse since PRO-7 has a legal team composed of retired justices, judges, government prosecutors and private law practitioners who had bonded together to defend policemen slapped with charges while in the
performance of their official duties.
The PRO-7 director, however, welcomed any investigation that may be conducted against the police.
“We’re open to any probe, and we will cooperate,” Taliño said.
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