The National Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed multiple murder charges in the Department of Justice against 14 policemen and 11 soldiers in the killings of suspected gambling lord Vic Siman and 12 others in Atimonan, Quezon province, on Jan. 6.
Following are quotes from the National Bureau of Investigation report on its probe of the Atimonan incident:
While President Aquino is taking time to review the investigation report on the January 6 killing of 13 alleged criminals in Atimonan, Quezon, Malacañang said Wednesday there’s no hanky-panky involved.
Twenty policemen involved in the Atimonan incident are now under the custody of the police in Camp Crame while 15 soldiers of the Army’s Special Forces who were part of an augmentation team are now restricted to quarters at the Army Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
The police official who was killed with alleged illegal gambling lord Victor “Vic” Siman in Atimonan, Quezon, on Jan. 6 was under prosecution for murder, according to the records of the National Bureau of Investigation.
They did not only break police checkpoint rules but they also went beyond their jurisdiction.
A third witness has surfaced to bolster the testimony of the two witnesses who earlier said that no shootout occurred in a Jan. 6 encounter in which government forces killed 13 members of an alleged criminal group at a checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
The new Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not losing sleep over the controversies plaguing the 148,000-strong force.
Careful not to comment on the investigation of the Atimonan, Quezon, operation that killed 13 people, the new regional director of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police assured the public that he would enforce stricter compliance with proper operational procedures, including the setting up of checkpoints.
The initial findings in the investigation of the gun slaying of 13 people in Atimonan, Quezon province, on Jan. 6 have bolstered the suspicions of some residents of this city that a similar incident that happened here two months ago was a police rubout.
Investigators are puzzling out some things that have been found on 13 people killed in a supposed shootout with police and soldiers in Atimonan, Quezon province, on Jan. 6. For instance, coin purses filled with pebbles were found in each of 11 of the 13 victims.
January 5, the day before they met their end in Atimonan, Quezon province, the victims, coming from various places, met up with Victor “Vic” Siman at Turbina bus terminal in Calamba, Laguna. They boarded two sports utility vehicles belonging to Siman and the group drove to Jose Panganiban in Camarines Norte, according to a relative of one of the victims.
Whatever the military’s witness says will not affect the National Bureau of Investigation’s finding that the killings of 13 people in Atimonan, Quezon province, on Jan. 6 were not the results of a shootout between government security forces and alleged criminals, an NBI official said on Saturday.
