‘Isolated crimes’ draw world attention

By Herbert Vego

 

IT happened at a time when President Rodrigo Duterte was trying hard to link “uncooperative” congressmen to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The “red tag” might have been intended to connect them to anti-military and anti-police operations of the New People’s Army (NPA).

The video-recorded incident that has gone viral in both the streamline and the social media worldwide was “redder” with the blood spilling out of Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank, 25, who were shot dead by Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca late Sunday afternoon in Paniqui, Tarlac.

Duterte’s unexpected reaction condemning the policeman must have been well thought of: “Isa lang itong klase ng pulis na ito. May sakit ito sa utak. Topak.”

A pro-Nuezca statement could have boosted the pieces of evidence that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague had gathered against the Philippine strongman for “crimes against humanity.”

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has estimated some 8,000 people slain in the illegal war launched by the President.

But while Mr. Duterte has denied having ordered the killings, a regional trial court had the courage to convict three policemen for killing Kian Loyd delos Santos, a 17-year-old boy who was mistakenly identified as a drug dealer.

PNP chief General Debold Sinas sounded very incredible when he said that the Nuezca’s heinous crime was “an isolated act of criminality.”

Worse, by advising crime witnesses to refrain from taking photos or videos of crimes because it could put them at risk, he only succeeded in drawing attention to himself. Had there been no “risk takers” bold enough to video-record his birthday mañanita, Sir Debold could have denied violating the protocols against close contact and non-wearing of masks.

Without that viral video showing him shooting his unarmed victims at close-range, Nuezca could have made up “self-defense” as an alibi often resorted to by scalawags in uniform.

To say that the crime is “isolated” is to forget scores of unsolved crimes involving the PNP. Iloilo has a number of them.

Pulis kontra pulis, to cite one, unfolded on June 26, 2018 when motorbike rider PO2 Melvin Mocorro shot PO1 Dorben Acap who was driving his car. Even when wounded in the shoulder, the latter managed to fire back, hitting the latter in the chest and leg.

The Iloilo City Police Office filed a frustrated murder complaint against Mocorro, who was tagged as the gunman in the assassination attempt of Acap over the latter’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear about the outcome of the case.

Lest we forget, it has been almost one year since businessman Delfin “Del” Britanico, 36, son of former Congressman Buddy Britanico, met his untimely death in the hands of the police on January 19, 2020.

The facts of the case as pieced by witnesses and recorded on CCTV showed that Del was gunned down while driving his new motorcycle along Treñas Road. He was unaware that the men on board the Adventure van he was following had shot dead a young man named Allen Muller in Barangay Cuartero.

Thinking that Britanico had witnessed the crime because he was taking pictures of them, the van passengers also shot him and took his camera. He sustained eight gunshot wounds on his head and on different parts of his body.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) subsequently filed on May 29, 2020 murder and theft charges against police officers PCpl. Jerry Villanueva, PCpl. Joseph Andrew Joven, and two unidentified men.

Eleven months have passed since the double murder of Muller and Britanico, but we in the media have no idea as regards the movement of the case.

An insult added to the Britanico family’s injury, meanwhile, is the refusal of Allianz PNB Life Insurance company to pay the monetary death benefits of Del on the pretext that the insurance policy applied for had been disapproved.

Surprisingly, the insurer had accepted Del’s initial premium payment on April 24, 2019 but returned it to his family only on January 23, 2020 or four days after his death.

Del’s dad being a former legislator and still an active lawyer, he would not take this legal anomaly sitting down.

However, he told me in a telephone conversation that he was still hoping for a reversal of the insurance company’s decision today, December 23.