Police: Pasig gun-toting minor captured alive because he didn’t fight back
The hope of Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra Jr. for a “bloodless” but massive police sweep in Pasig came to naught when a man was killed by police officers in a buy-bust operation on Saturday.
Yerba, the police chief of Pasig, noted, however, how a 16-year old boy carrying a .38-cal. revolver at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on Magsaysay Street, Barangay Manggahan was arrested alive because he did not fight back.
Yebra said the teenager admitted stealing it from a sleeping security guard. His parents also confirmed that he was a member of a robbery group.
“This is different on the case of Kian,” Yerba said. “He was alive because he did not resist arrest from policemen.”
The police chief was referring to 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, a Grade 11 student who was killed after he allegedly opened fire on Caloocan cops on Wednesday night.
Witnesses, however, claim police beat up Delos Santos, gave him a gun, and told him to run before they shot him.
Yebra appealed to the public not to make generalizations about police officers and their operations.
“I hope that there’s no misconception,” he said. “OTBT [one-time, big-time] does not mean there will be killings. Other cities just have a higher number of casualties because their suspects are palaban.”
According to Yebra, OTBT, which originated from the Oplan Lambat-Simbat of former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in 2015, aims to deter crimes through “deliberate, pragmatic and sustained police operations.”
Meanwhile, Yerba also considered the killing of another drug suspect, 24-year-old Rodolfo Cruz, by members of the Station Drug Enforcement Unit as “another accomplishment.”
SPO1 Rolando Anselmo, case investigator, said Cruz was gunned down by police officers in retaliation at around 2:30 a.m. on Eastbank Road, near the MMDA Floodway in Barangay Sta. Lucia.
PO1 Sherwin Gagtan was able to close a shabu deal with Cruz when the suspect noticed the gun on his waist.
“[Cruz] pulled out his firearm and fired upon the police operative but missed. PO1 Gagtan retaliated and hit the suspect in his body,” the report said.
He was brought to Pasig City General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Crime scene investigators recovered six sachets of shabu, the P100 marked money and Cruz’s .38-cal. revolver loaded with five rounds of ammunition.
“It is our aim for a bloodless operation. Things like this, however, happen especially when suspects resist arrest,” Yebra said.
He said, however, that the death of a drug suspect should diminish the accomplishment of police.
“It is a focused police operation,” he said. “Deaths should not be a criteria whether a one-time, big-time is successful or not.”
Yebra touted the 195 arrests Pasig police made on Saturday.
“We want it extended until Sunday morning, but the heavy rains in the evening stopped our operations,” he said.
He noted “problem areas” such as in Pineda, Pinagbuhatan, Manggahan, and Rosario. /atm
