MANILA, Philippines—No gun battle took place. It was an out-and-out execution.

These were the findings of an investigating team sent by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to Batangas to look into the deaths of three men killed by policemen searching for the robbery gang that massacred 10 people inside a provincial branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

“There was no shootout. There is a reasonable certainty to believe that it was a case of a rubout, an out-and-out summary execution of the three men,” newly appointed CHR Chair Leila de Lima announced at a press conference Monday.

De Lima said the absence of bullet marks in an area where there should have been such marks, as well as the physical setup of the place where the shooting happened, strongly suggested the three men did not engage the policemen in a shootout.

Also, there was no basis for the police to implicate the three men in the May 16 robbery-murders at the RCBC branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, said De Lima, a well-known election lawyer who assumed the CHR chairmanship just a week ago.

Confronted with the CHR findings, the Philippine National Police denied there had been a rubout and insisted that what happened was a “legitimate” encounter.

Police claimed the encounter occurred during their follow-up operation in Barangay Pagaspas in Tanauan City, Batangas on May 22.

In a separate development Monday, police said they had identified five suspects in the RCBC bloodbath and that two of them belonged to the “uniformed services”—meaning they were members of either the police or the military.

No basis

The three men killed were Vivencio Javier, Angelito Malabanan and Rolly Lachica. Their families have also claimed the three were victims of a police execution.

A fourth man, Pepito Magsino, whom the police said was also suspected of involvement in the RCBC robbery, was killed a day earlier in what police said was another “shootout” in Barangay 4, also in Tanauan.

The CHR said it had not yet established if Magsino was also a rubout victim.

Earlier, authorities said the four men were suspected members of the Javier-Lucido robbery group operating in Southern Luzon.

De Lima said the initial findings of the CHR quick-reaction team, led by Region 4 Director Cresencia Pedrosa and including civilian investigators Edgar de Luna and Dennis dela Peña, found no traces of a hot pursuit as far as the three men were concerned.
De Lima also noted that policemen had no search warrants or warrants of arrest against the slain men.

“The police had no basis in so far as implicating these men in the RCBC massacre. Dossiers, information of the men’s possible involvement were just being gathered so why conduct the operation in such manner?” De Lima said.

Witnesses to the killings

The CHR chairperson said the “comprehensive report” submitted by Pedrosa’s team was based on firsthand accounts of 10 witnesses, ocular inspection of the site and the gunshot wounds sustained by the victims.

De Lima said the report “will be further validated” by a bigger team of CHR investigators from the main office.

She said the CHR could not yet conclude that Magsino’s case was also a rubout for lack of any firsthand accounts from any witnesses.

Investigation of Magsino’s death mainly relied on the testimony of his wife, which De Lima described as “hearsay.”

Witnesses to the killing of Javier, a former barangay captain, said around 10 men in civvies barged into his house and went upstairs after ordering his sons to face the wall.

Bullet marks

One of the witnesses said Javier shook hands with a man he addressed as “Sir.” Moments later, four shots were heard.

An inspection of the room where Javier was killed showed no traces that he fired back.

The four bullet marks on the windowpane strongly indicated that the shots came from the room and not from anyone outside the house.

Eyewitnesses said Malabanan was shot in the head while his arms were raised. He was shot at least 14 times more while down on the ground.

An inspection of the site—near the gate of a farmhouse—showed that bullet marks were concentrated on the spot where Malabanan was killed. Pedrosa stressed this was unlikely to happen in a shootout.

Dragged from bed

Lachica was found dead outside the farmhouse with a bullet in his head. His blanket still wrapped around him strongly suggested he might have been dragged out of bed.

The PNP disputed the CHR findings.

“We are standing by our position that it was a legitimate shootout,” Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla, Calabarzon police regional director, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

Police said the Task Force RCBC members were casing the area when they were fired at.

“Anyone who lost a loved one can do cover-ups,” Senior Supt. Aaron Fidel, head of Task Force RCBC and police deputy regional director for operations, said.

Referring to the wounding of a police officer in the operation against Magsino, Fidel said: “No officer in his right frame of mind would shoot his colleague just to make it appear as a shootout.” With reports from Nikko Dizon in Manila and Niña Catherine Calleja, Inquirer Southern Luzon