The Philippine National Police has filed homicide and murder charges against four policemen and Ronald Mark Aquino, son of the late Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, for their alleged involvement in a shootout in March that led to the elder Aquino’s death.
In a Senate hearing, PNP Director for Operations Maj. Gen. Alfred Corpuz said three counts of homicide and frustrated homicide were filed against policemen Lt. Col. Harry Sucayre, Maj. Shyrile Tan, and Lt. Julio Armeza Jr. for the killing of the mayor and his companions.
The younger Aquino and Cpl. Ramil Rosales, along with several unidentified suspects, were charged with two counts of murder and one frustrated murder, according to Police Maj. Gen. Alfred Corpuz.
The charges, Corpuz said, were for the death of Staff Sgt. Romeo Laoyon and Capt. Joselito Tabada, chief of Samar’s PNP Drug Enforcement Unit.
Aquino, for his part, denied that he was involved in the death of two police officers during the incident.
The 58-year-old mayor was ambushed by police personnel in March.
The police claimed the shootout began when the security detail of the 58-year-old mayor fired first at the vehicle of the policemen, killing Tabada and Laoyon.
The National Bureau of Investigation-Eastern Visayas, however, said based on accounts of several witnesses, men aboard Tabada’s vehicle alighted and strafed Aquino’s vehicle, prompting the shootout and killing three of the mayor’s companions.
When Senator Panfilo Lacson told NBI Eastern Visayas Regional Director Jerry Abiera that the opposite findings could lead to chaos in court, the latter said: “That is most likely to happen, sir.”
