By Meryl Rabuya, Davao Today Intern
DAVAO CITY – The Regional Internal Affairs Service (RIAS) revealed on Wednesday that it had found probable cause for charging 19 personnel of Sta.Cruz, Davao Del Sur. Municipal Police Station for grave misconduct.
RIAS 11 regional director Police Senior Superintendent Pedro Cabatingan said that the personnel will be facing administrative cases by virtue of National Police Commission resolution 2007-001 which penalizes the offending party with dismissal if found guilty.
“We have just finished conducting the investigation on the incident which occurred January 22 in Sta.Cruz Davao del Sur, Municipal police station, wherein the suspect was killed while in the custody of the police.” Cabatingan said.
“I understand that the suspect was apprehended but there was a lack of a thorough search which left the suspect to detonate his hand-held grenade,” he added.
Cabatingan told the media that everyone in Sta.Cruz police station including its station commander are all liable in the incident which left one dead and four people wounded.
Also included were 2 policemen who shot the suspect which led to his immediate death.
It was reported that the suspect was already unarmed after the explosion but instead of arresting him the two policemen had open-fired.
“Even in our investigation, the use of firearms is no longer permitted because the suspect is already harmless after the explosion.” Cabatingan said.
“This alone constitutes a crime of violation of law which is murder or homicide depending on the investigation,” he added. (davaotoday.com)
