Brutal killings involving cop spark outrage

Paranaque Police Master Sergent Jonel Nuezca looks at the CCTV camera before shooting dead a mother and his son in Tarlac.

MANILA, Philippines — The brutal killing of a woman and her son by an off-duty policeman in Paniqui, Tarlac province, on Sunday, which was caught on video that went viral on social media, was an act of “pure evil” and emblematic of the culture of violence and impunity within the ranks of the Philippine National Police, senators said on Monday.

“Impunity breeds trigger-happy cops,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.

“So long as the culture of impunity exists in the country, and when there is a system that rewards misdeeds instead of punishing them, police abuses and violence will continue,” he said in a statement.

‘Unspeakable’

Drilon said the actions of Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who turned himself in to authorities after shooting 52-year-old Sonya Gregorio and her 25-year-old son Frank Anthony Gregorio, who were both unarmed, at point-blank range, were “unspeakable.”

Videos of the incident and its aftermath have since been shared by hundreds of thousands on Facebook and Twitter.

“He should spend Christmas and a lifetime in jail. That devil who committed an evil act in front of his own daughter deserves to rot in jail,” Drilon said.

“Where is our society headed?” Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked in a post on Twitter.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said: “The incident is an outrage. That is the result of condoning and refusing to punish abusive and corrupt police.”

“We expect this administration to condemn the incident and to ensure the perpetrator will be prosecuted instead of condoning or promoting these corrupt and abusive cops,” he said.

President Duterte will not protect Nuezca, said his spokesperson, Harry Roque.

“We condemn the incident in Tarlac. I want to make it clear, this is not a service-related double murder. If we’re not mistaken, this is a dispute over right of way. That policeman cannot invoke the defense that the killing was duty-related,” Roque said in a news briefing.

The killings will be treated like an ordinary murder case and will be investigated, and the perpetrator will be charged, he said.

“No ifs, no buts. There will be justice because we saw the evidence. The President will not protect him. We condemn this,” Roque added.

‘Show no mercy’

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief, said Nuezca should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“If what’s on video tells the whole story, I enjoin the PNP leadership to show no mercy,” he said.

“They should spare no effort to make sure that he rots in jail. He’s the last policeman that they need [on] the force,” Lacson said.

He recommended that police officers should turn in their service firearms to their unit’s armorer or supply officer when off-duty, and should not be issued permits to carry.

“The PNP should always uphold its motto, ‘To Serve and Protect.’ That includes taking appropriate steps to protect our people from scalawags in their ranks, whether they are on duty or not,” Lacson said.

Sen. Nancy Binay urged all law enforcement agencies to hold a “top-to-bottom value reorientation” to end the culture of impunity that was breeding police abuses.

Binay emphasized the need to introduce structural and internal reforms, particularly in implementing stricter accountability for erring police officers.

“Police behavior and practices should be directed to the desire of helping the people and the community,” Binay said.

She also said there should be a “more rigid psychological evaluation” alongside physical fitness tests of officers to ensure higher standards are enforced and rogue officers are rooted out.

“Something is deeply wrong when you have both top cops and rank-and-file who flout the law,” Binay said.

Call for probe

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco offered his condolences to the family of the Gregorios, and said Nuezca “must not go unpunished.”

The killings, he said, “highlight the need for the leadership of the PNP to remind its ranks of “the proper and responsible use of their weapons and that they should, as much as possible, apply nonviolent means at all times.”

Agusan del Norte Rep. Lawrence Fortun condemned the killings as an example of “police brutality,” and said it was far from being an “isolated incident.”

“I ask Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to order the National Bureau of Investigation to take over the case. The PNP should waive custody and jurisdiction over the police officer. These moves would be prudent and legal. The investigation must be swift. Criminal charges in court must be urgently filed,” Fortun said.

Double-murder charges were filed against Nuezca in Branch 67 of the Paniqui Regional Trial Court on Monday.

Manuel Pascua Jr., the assistant provincial prosecutor, had found probable cause to indict Nuezca for two counts of murder and did not recommend bail.

Documents released by the Tarlac police office showed that Nuezca was put through the mandatory drug test, but the policeman invoked his right to refuse to undergo a paraffin test.

Justice Secretary Guevarra said the Department of Justice (DOJ) would keep an eye on the prosecution of Nuezca.

“I am disturbed that altercations like that … could suddenly lead to deaths,” Guevarra told the Inquirer.

“The DOJ will closely monitor developments in this case and ensure that justice is done,” he said.

Nuezca is assigned to the Parañaque police crime laboratory. A Parañaque police officer, who requested not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, described Nuezca as a “hothead.”

Surrendered

“We did not know that he had previous criminal and administrative cases before he was assigned here,” the officer said.

Nuezca admitted to the killings when he surrendered to the police in Rosales, Pangasinan province, hours after the shooting.

“He was fed up [with the behavior of the Gregorios],” Police Maj. Fernando Fernandez, chief of the Rosales police, told the Inquirer, citing Nuezca’s statement given to investigators.

According to Police Lt. Col. Noriel Rambaoa, Paniqui police chief, Nuezca confronted Frank Anthony Gregorio after Gregorio fired a “boga,” a banned New Year’s Eve noisemaker.

An altercation between the two followed, and Sonya Gregorio stepped in and pleaded for her son. But Nuezca drew his 9mm M-92 service pistol and began to drag Frank Gregorio.

The mother tried to prevent her son from being taken by throwing her arms around him and holding him fast. Just then Nuezca’s daughter arrived and shouted, “My father is a policeman.”

“I don’t care,” the mother shouted back.

Nuezca shot the mother in the head, then shot the son twice. The two fell to the ground, and Nuezca shot the mother once more before taking his jacket and helmet and driving away with his daughter on a motorcycle.

Investigators said Nuezca briefly went into hiding in his relatives’ house in Urdaneta City but later surrendered to the Rosales police. He also turned in his firearm.

Police Col. Renante Cabico, Tarlac provincial police chief, said the confrontation was not only over Frank Gregorio’s firing the boga. He said a right-of-way issue in the properties of Nuezca and the Gregorios in Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, also figured in the altercation.

“This is just an isolated case. The suspect was just carried away by the situation that was triggered by the firing of a boga. Everything happened spontaneously,” Cabico said.

The PNP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government dismissed Nuezca as a “rotten egg,” but human rights group Karapatan disagreed.

In a statement, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said the “merciless murder” of the Gregorios “was a dangerous and chilling effect of impunity that reigns in the Philippines.”

‘No isolated incident’

“This is no isolated incident, especially when governance and culture is being driven by President Rodrigo Duterte’s rabid kill-kill-kill policy,” Palabay added.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) condemned the killings and said the Philippines could not claim adherence to human rights principles while “allowing impunity to worsen by not making sure perpetrators are held to account.”

In a statement, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said the agency would investigate the killings, which “reechoe[d] our call to the government [to] conduct investigations on every allegation of arbitrary killing.”

“Promises made by the government to uplift the human rights condition in the country must translate into the improvements of the situation on the ground. We have seen deaths after deaths,” De Guia said. “How [many] more [before] the killings stop?” —WITH REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, MARLON RAMOS, DEXTER CABALZA, JULIE M. AURELIO, MARIA ADELAIDA CALAYAG AND YOLANDA SOTELO INQ