Borbon policemen facing criminal cases will be given chance to defend themselves — PRO-7 chief
Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare says that the PRO-7 will be conducting their own administrative investigation on the case of Borbon policemen. | Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) will give four policemen of the Borbon Police Station, who are facing criminal charges, a chance to defend themselves.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, PRO-7 spokesperson, said that Brigadier General Anthony Abelada Aberin, PRO-7 director, also ordered for a parallel investigation to determine any administrative liability of the accused policemen.
NBI files cases
This was after the National Bureau of Investigation Cebu District Office (NBI Cebdo) filed criminal cases on Thursday, June 8, against Police Staff Sergeants Aaron Salogaol, Reffe Tejares, Patrolmen Gypsy Miro and Jade Potane.
All these policemen were assigned at the Borbon Police Station in Borbon town in northern Cebu.
According to an NBI Cebdo statement, the charges filed against the policemen are murder, obstruction of justice, falsification of public documents for untruthful narration of facts, and grave misconduct.
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Killing of Michael Casas
The cases stemmed from a complaint of Cristyl Delgado-Casas for the killing of her husband, Michael Casas, on Feb. 1, 2022.
In their sworn statements, the police officers claimed that while responding to a call, the victim fired at them despite their calls for him to surrender which forced them to defend themselves.
The policemen’s claim, however, was disputed by the accounts of the wife, eyewitnesses, and other pieces of evidence which allegedly established that the shooting was “unjustified, unwarranted, and does not fall under any exempting and justifying circumstances under our law.”
Investigator also charged
Aside from the four policemen, Police Staff Master Sergeant Lou Susvilla, investigator of the Borbon Police Station, is also being charged with falsification by public officer, obstruction of justice, and an administrative case for grave misconduct.
Pelare said that as part of their investigation, the accused officers would be given the opportunity to submit their affidavits in order to determine if there were any liabilities in the administrative aspect.
And if substantial evidence is found, appropriate penalty will be enforced.
PRO-7 will be transparent
While for the criminal aspect pursued by the NBI, he said that PRO-7 would be very transparent in order to comply with due process.
“At all costs, we will stand by our men if walay nakita nga violation sa policy (if it can be seen that there are no violations in the policy). But as of now, we have ordered for the immediate relief of these involved personnel not because we believe that they are at fault. But we want to have an investigation which is transparent,” said Pelare.
As of now, the case is under investigation by the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman, Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO).
Pelare said that if the policemen would be proven guilty then the PRO-7 director’s stand would be that they “will never condone any misdeeds within the organization.” | with Paul Lauro
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