PNP to help 30 cops indicted for ‘Bloody Sunday’ slays
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be extending help to the 30 police officers facing murder complaints in connection with the “Bloody Sunday” massacre – a police operation in 2021 that resulted in the death of several political activists.
Nine activists were killed on March 7, 2021 during simultaneous military-police raids conducted in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces – dubbed by critics as “Bloody Sunday.” Among those killed were activist Ariel Evangelista and his wife Anne Marie.
In a press briefing on Monday, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said he was saddened by the complaints lodged against the police officers, arguing that they were only “performing their jobs.”
“We are now accounting for these police officers. We need to help them because, in my mind, they were just performing their role as police officers,” Azurin said in a mix of English and Filipino.
He also called for the support of the former leader of the PNP when the “Bloody Sunday” raids happened.
“While the filing of criminal complaints happened during my time, I think we also need to call for the voluntary support of our past leaders because, as I said, our police officers were only doing their job. They showed how dedicated they were to their duty, and we hope our past PNP leaders can support them,” the country’s top cop added.
Azurin reiterated that the PNP leaders’ instructions for their police officers had always been to accomplish their duties properly.
“Under my leadership, we will give our PNP officers whatever help we can. We’ll help them not only financially but also morally and spiritually. Right now, they’re feeling down since they must be thinking about how things ended up this way when they were only doing their job. So, we’ll also boost their morale,” he said.
Azurin added: “They did their role. There is a regularity in the performance of their job. Whatever the investigators saw in this case, we will try to answer it point by point. We will defend every PNP officer involved in this case.”
