MANILA: Senior officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been denounced for allegedly “coddling” four policemen tagged as the killers of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) allegedly involved in illegal drugs in Cavite province in Southern Luzon.
Senator Antonio Trillanes brought to the attention of the Senate Committee on Justice the case of Mark Anthony Culata as a possible victim of extra-judicial killing in the ongoing and intensified war on illegal drugs amid charges of rampant human rights violations, reported Gulf Today.
Culata, an OFW who was on vacation, was allegedly killed on September 8 by four policemen assigned to the police station of Tanza, Cavite on suspicion that he was an illegal drugs dealer, the report said.
Under questioning by the members of the committee, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, the PNP chief, reportedly admitted this was the first time that he heard of the killing of Culata whose family had sought an independent inquiry by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
However, Cavite police officers was quoted as saying that the four policemen were already under their custody following the filing of administrative charges filed against them for their alleged involvement in Culata’s killing.
Senator Richard Gordon, the committee chairman, said criminal charges including murder should have already been filed against the four policemen, based on initial findings on Culata’s killing.
“To my mind, this is why people are alarmed,” Gordon pointed out, referring to the unabated increase in alleged rampant human rights violations like extra-judicial killing of suspected drug dealers.
“The four policemen should have already been jailed and charged for murder,” Gordon added even as another committee member Senator Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief, noted that three weeks after the killing, findings on the ballistic examination on the service firearms of the lawmen have yet to be released, reported Gulf Today.
The committee members also reportedly pointed out that Culata’s case was not recorded in the Tanza police blotter, leading to suspicions that the Cavite provincial police was using Culata’s alleged link to illegal drugs as a legitimate excuse to justify his killing.
