MANILA, Philippines?The Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered the filing of two counts of murder against 25 policemen involved in a 2008 shoot-out with suspected robbers in Parañaque City in which a 53-year-old seaman and his 7-year-old daughter were killed.

State Prosecutor Stewart Allan Mariano found probable cause to indict the lawmen for the death of Alfonso ?Jun? de Vera and his daughter, Lia Allana, in the Parañaque Regional Trial Court.

Mariano?s resolution was approved by Chief State Prosecutor Claro Arellano and Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon.

No bail was recommended for Supt. Jonathan Calixto, Chief Insp. Hermogenes Cabe, Senior Insp. Abraham Abayari, Inspectors Erikson Roranes and Ludivico Cordova, Police Officers 3 Hagar Torres, Jericho Otadoy, Guilbert Lopez, Felix Base, Eugene Papat-ew and Policarpio Jose Jr., and Police Officers 1 James Yodong, Allan Apil, Efren Angcuan, Lloyd Bulayungan, Nemesio Gano and Sherwin Maybanting.

All belong to the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF).

Also charged were Chief Inspectors Lawrence Cajipe, Joel Mendoza and Gerardo Balatucan; Police Officers 3 Jolito Mamanao Jr. and Fernando Rey Gapuz; Police Officers 2 Eduardo Blanco and Edwin Santos; and PO1 Josil Rey Lucena, all belonging to the PNP-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) Task Force Limbas.

The policemen engaged suspected members of a robbery gang in a fire fight in United Parañaque Subdivision IV, West Service Road, on Dec. 5, 2008.

Mariano gave credence to the testimony of witnesses Hilario Dauz Indiana and Ronald Castillo, saying their accounts were ?more than sufficient to establish probable cause and warrant the indictment of the respondents from SAF and HPG for the crimes charged.?

Witness account

Indiana testified that De Vera and his daughter were not killed during the shoot-out.

He said there was no exchange of gunfire as the policemen were in complete control of the area where the two were killed.

Castillo backed Indiana?s account that the lawmen strafed the Isuzu Crosswind that De Vera was driving, hitting his daughter who was seated in front.

Castillo recounted that when De Vera alighted from the van to take his daughter out, some of the policemen followed him and shot him in the head.

Mariano noted that 80 bullets were pumped into De Vera?s vehicle, indicating that many policemen participated in the shooting.

?It is without an iota of doubt that respondent-policemen from the SAF were seen by the two witnesses firing at the Crosswind vehicle of the De Veras, that they also shot Jun de Vera, and that there was no exchange of fire,? he said.

Bataoil cleared

For indiscriminately shooting the van although ?there was no direct aggression foisted on them, and without first ascertaining their identities, as a consequence of which Lia died, and for shooting an unarmed defenseless and unarmed civilian in the person of Jun de Vera, who merely tried to secure Lia to a safe place, respondents from the SAF and HPG are liable for murder, qualified by the abuse of superior strength,? Mariano added.

The prosecutor, however, cleared now retired Deputy Director Leopoldo Bataoil, then head of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Northern Luzon; SAF head Chief Supt. Leocadio Santiago Jr.; and Task Force Limbas head Chief Supt. Perfecto Palad.
Although the three police officials participated in the pre-operations briefing against the Waray-Waray robbery gang at Fort Bonifacio, there was no proof that they conspired or participated in committing the crime, Mariano said.

He said the only participation of the three officers was their prior knowledge of the operation and of the gun battle immediately after it happened.

?It was not directly shown that they have performed any overt act in pursuance or furtherance of the complicity to commit the crime,? Mariano said.

Also exonerated

The DoJ also exonerated the ground commander, HPG?s Supt. Eleuterio Gutierrez Jr., because he was ?practically rendered helpless? when he was shot and severely wounded during the exchange of gunfire.

Mariano said that when Gutierrez was hit, confusion ensued among members of the operating team that apparently led to the death of De Veras.

He branded as ?absurd and incredible? the claim of the HPG members that they were only armed with pistols and handguns during the operation and that none of them fired their weapons.

The ballistic examination report of the Southern Police District (SPD), according to Mariano, contradicted the claim of the accused.

Widow?s complaint

The charges against the policemen stemmed from the complaint filed by De Vera?s wife, Lilian, who accused the policemen of violating the PNP rules of engagement that led to the death of her husband and daughter.

She claimed that the policemen were cordoning off the area in an attempt to block a group of robbers who engaged policemen in a running gun battle on Sampaguita Avenue in United Parañaque Subdivision 4.

The policemen, according to Lilian, might have mistaken their van, with Plate No. XEW-327, for one of the getaway cars of the suspects. She said her husband and daughter were on their way to pick her up in Pasay City as they had agreed to have a late snack together.