‘Tokhang’ survivor sues cops

A 29-year-old fruit vendor who survived a bloody drug raid in Quezon City’s Payatas district last year has filed a criminal complaint against four policemen and their informants, in yet another legal challenge against the government’s antinarcotics campaign, his lawyers said on Friday.

Efren Morillo filed a complaint for murder, frustrated murder, robbery and planting of drugs and firearms in the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday. The suit comes a month after an appeals court ruled on a petition filed by Morillo and the families of the four other victims to issue a protection order keeping the police away from them.

The court also ordered the police involved be transferred to another station and to disclose any evidence against the suspects that led to the drug raid.

Morillo is the first known survivor of the police’s “Oplan Tokhang” to win a court protection under the writ of amparo.

Morillo’s complaint also comes in the wake of the government’s pronouncements that Oplan Tokhang, which has been criticized for violating the right to due process, will soon be revived after it was halted in January. Tokhang is a combination of two Filipino words to mean “knock and plead,” in which police officers would call on homes of suspected drug users to persuade them to surrender.

Named as respondents in Morillo’s complaint were Police Senior Insp. Emil Garcia, Police Officer 3 Allan Formilleza, PO1 James Aggarao and PO1 Melchor Navisaga, who were formerly detailed with the Quezon City Police District Station 6. Also sued were their purported informants Lea Barcelona, Mary Joy Ralo, Lorie Barcelona and Richard Andan alias “Manok.”

“If I may call on our beloved President, do not continue Oplan Tokhang. The police only use it and abuse it,” Morillo said.

Morillo was visiting a friend’s place in Payatas in August last year when the police raid occurred. He said the policemen shot four of his companions “execution style.” He survived by playing dead, and later escaped despite his injury.

Autopsies indicated that the victims were shot at close range. The informant also allegedly stole jewelry and other items from the ramshackle house of Morillo’s friend, Marcelo “Nonoy” Daa Jr., who was one of those killed.

Lawyer Cristina Antonio of the Center for International Law, a human rights group assisting Morillo in the case, said the relatives of the other victims “would also file criminal and administrative cases against the QC police officers involved and their agents in the weeks to come.”

More charges

“The filing was but a natural step, amparo being also a curative remedy that lays the foundation for criminal and administrative charges,” Antonio said, adding that the relatives were preparing to file charges.

Morillo claimed that he and his friends were playing pool when armed men carried out a raid and shot them when they refused to admit to owning the silver foil and toy gun found at the scene.

“From what I have narrated, it is clear that we were not using “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) but merely playing pool, but we were arrested and forced to admit that we own the plastic sachet with white substance inside that they were holding,” he said in his sworn statement.

Morillo named Formilleza as the policeman who shot him and his friend when they protested their innocence. He said he was hit in the chest but did not lose consciousness right away.

“I saw him fire two shots at Nonoy, who fell to the ground beside me and started running out of breath,” he continued. “Then he fired another shot at Nonoy. Thoroughly frightened that I might be shot again, I closed my eyes and played dead.”

Morillo said he recognized Formilleza but only found out his name later on, when the police filed a complaint against him in the city prosecutor’s office for direct assault against an agent of a person in authority by resisting arrest during the tokhang operation.

The policemen had even claimed in media interviews that Morillo and his companions were caught smoking meth, and even dubbed them notorious drug suspects and robbers.

“Nevertheless, the policemen themselves admit to shooting me and my companions. They are claiming that the shooting was in fulfillment of their duties in relation to an antidrug operation,” he said. “They claim that we resisted and fought back. However, these allegations are baseless and are mere fabrications.”