RCBC robbery suspects' kin cry ‘rubout’ not shootout
By Niña Catherine Calleja
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 18:11:00 05/23/2008
TANAUAN CITY, Philippines -- Relatives and neighbors of three of four people tagged as suspects in the massacre and robbery in the Rizal Commercial Bank Corporation branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, were furious Friday against lawmen they accused of carrying out “summary executions” in pre-dawn operations the previous day.
Police had alleged that at least two shootouts occurred with the suspects.
Two of those killed, Angelito Malabanan, 40, and Rolly Lachica, 50, according to residents of the village of Pagaspas, were weeders and caretakers of the poultry house of Servillano Javier, the current village chief.
The third suspect, Vivencio Javier, 55, Servillano's brother, was a former village chief and belonged to a landed family in Tanauan City.
According to the police, the three men were killed as they shot it out with the raiding team of the RCBC Task Force in Batangas.
Some eight hours before the incident in Pagaspas, police had gunned down a certain Pepito Magsino on a road in Barangay 4 Poblacion.
Police said they believed that all of the four were part of the Javier-Lucido gang, a notorious robbery-holdup group operating in Southern Tagalog.
Senior Superintendent Aaron Fidel, head of the RCBC Task Force and deputy regional director for operations (not of Batangas police as earlier reported in the Inquirer) said that they had no evidence yet to link the four men to the Cabuyao robbery and killings.
Police were conducting ballistic tests on the firearms recovered and cross-matching these with evidence gathered at the bank, he added.
Relatives of Malabanan and Lachica said they already found the suspects' bodies in the funeral parlor but declared that the killings happened 100 meters away from where Vivencio was shot dead.
Bullet holes on a window pane of Javier's house and the gate of the poultry house could still be seen.
The houses in the area where the alleged encounter took place are near each other.
Olive Javier, wife of Vivencio, told the Inquirer that what happened last Thursday was an execution.
"It was not a shootout but a summary execution," she said.
Per Olive's account, at around midnight, they heard a loud noise from the outside before policemen in plainclothes forcibly entered their house.
The police did not have any search warrant when they asked for Vivencio.
Olive had to go upstairs to call Vivencio who was ready to sleep, she said.
When police saw him, the team leader said, “Are you Kapitan? We have something to ask."
Vivencio nodded and was led by the policemen outside the room. When Olive sensed that something bad might occur, she hugged her husband.
"I was shoved by two police officers to the next room and told not to go out," she recounted.
She said two of her sons in the receiving room were forced to stoop and face the wall.
"When they shut the door, I heard a series of gunshots," she said, adding she was not allowed to get out of the room for 10 minutes.
While in the room, Olive said, she was worrying that her husband and their children inside the house would be killed.
She said police barged into their rooms and took six cellphones and two play stations.
"His licensed pistol was taken under his bed and was used to make it appear that Viveng (Vivencio) began the firefight," she said.
Even an undetermined amount of money in Vivencio's wallet was missing, Olive said.
Then, she saw her husband on the floor, his face soaking in his own blood, she said.
Ricardo Javier, Vivencio’s older brother, said it was impossible for Vivencio to begin the firefight or even shoot back.
"Who in his right frame mind would do that, knowing his family was inside the house?" he said.
During the incident, five of Vivencio's children and his one-year-old grandchild were inside the house, Olive said.
Annie, Malabanan's mother, said she almost fainted and could hardly walk when she was informed her son was killed.
"I didn't know why it happened. My son was never involved in illegal activities," she said. "He just took care of the roosters and fed them."
Malabanan was frequently in their house but used to sleep in the house of Servillano Javier at night to look after the roosters.
She said he was a good son as he always cooked for his siblings.
"It was painful that he was brutally killed. He was shot at close range, and his face was smashed," she said.
Malabanan sustained 14 gunshot wounds, according to his mother.
Flora Cabrera, Malabanan's neighbor, said she did not believe the police allegations.
"He was a good man. And you'll see that he was very good to his mother," she said.
The Javiers are now preparing the necessary charges against the police.
"They killed innocent people who committed no crime and lived ordinary lives," Ricardo said.
He said police killed his brother to merely send a signal to the public that the RCBC case was solved.
Vivencio had been a village chief of Pagaspas and was not involved in any case of robbery and murder, Olive said.
"This is too much. They have killed my husband, and still they are linking him to evil acts," she said.
She said the police were making up the story because they had no eyewitness to the RCBCcrime.
Ricardo said the police should be held accountable in this case so it would not happen again.
"It is no longer safe nowadays. You are being killed inside the comfort of your house. And worse, by policemen," he said.
Pagaspas, a kilometer and a half away from the city proper, was described by residents as a peaceful village.
Placards with texts "Justice for Kapitan Viveng!" and “Point, Shoot, Kill. Is that justice nowadays?" (Turo, Putok, Patay. Yan ba ang hustisya ngayon? ) were posted around the house of Vivencio.
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