PNP yet to account for 22 cops allegedly involved in Bilibid inmates’ deaths

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has yet to account for the 22 police officers allegedly involved in the deaths of eight high-profile inmates in the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), an official said Tuesday.

The PNP has yet to receive the official copy of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) complaint filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ), PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said.

Once the complaint is received, the PNP will take the necessary actions, including initiating possible administrative proceedings, she said.

“We will make sure po na lahat ng napangalanan doon sa complaint po ay ia-account po natin, aalamin natin nasaan po sila assigned ngayon and we will initiate appropriate administrative proceedings if evidence warrants po,” Fajardo said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(We will ensure that everyone named in the complaint will be accounted for, and we will find out where they are assigned right now and initiate appropriate administrative proceedings if evidence warrants.)

“Sa ngayon, we’re still waiting for the official copy of the complaints filed by the NBI before the DOJ and last week po nagpadala na po ng letter request ang ating Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management,” she said.

(For now, we’re still waiting for the official copy of the complaints filed by the NBI before the DOJ, and last week, our Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management already sent a request letter.)

Fajardo said the PNP hopes will receive the complaint “in the coming days.”

“That will be the basis of the subsequent action pertaining po dito sa kasong finile po ng NBI (to the case filed by the NBI),” she added.

When asked about the whereabouts of the 22 PNP personnel who were initially accused of the Bilibid deaths, Fajardo said that they have been “seeing names,” but they are not sure whether these are the personnel filed before DoJ.

“Sa ngayon, dahil wala pa po tayong kopya— official copy po— ay nakikita lamang po natin na naglalabasan po yung mga pangalan so we are not even sure if this are the concerned personnel that were charged before the DoJ so once we get the official copy, we will account for those PNP personnel po,”

(For now, because we don’t have the copy yet—the official copy—we only see names, but we are not even sure if these are the concerned personnel that was charged before the DoJ, so once we get the official copy, we will account for the PNP personnel.)

The 22 cops are from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) that were assigned to the Bureau of Corrections at the time of the inmates’ death, according to NBI.

The findings suggest that the inmates died of the new coronavirus. But upon the investigation of NBI, the bureau said that COVID-19 was just used to cover up the inmates’ killings as it found inconsistencies and irregularities between the statements of the 22 NCRPO personnel and the affidavits executed by other NBP inmates. – Xander Dave Ceballos, INQUIRER.net intern

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