Kin of ‘Ortigas rubout’ victims run to SC

The kin of three suspected car theft gang members who were killed in an alleged police rubout in 2005 have asked the high court to stop the arraignment of the accused while it is still hearing their petition on the downgrading of charges against the five policemen.

According to lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno who is representing the families of Anton Cu-Unjieng, Francis Xavier Manzano and Brian Anthony Dulay, their petition before the Supreme Court which was filed the other day would become moot and academic should the arraignment push through.

“Even if the [high court] ruled that the charges should be murder, the court cannot upgrade the charges once the accused have been arraigned,” Diokno said during a press briefing in Pasig City on Tuesday.

The five policemen were supposed to be arraigned on Tuesday but Judge Danilo Buemio of the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 265 reset the proceedings to April 3 because one of the prosecutors was unavailable.

“Rubout is the worst form of impunity … We have the video, not just statements of witnesses to prove it,” Diokno said.

He added: “Thus, it would be wrong to stop fighting when we know we are on the right side.”

Diokno was referring to the video footage taken by a UNTV crew which showed policemen firing at close range upon the victims who were lying motionless in a car on Garnet Street in Ortigas, Pasig City, on Nov. 7, 2005.

The police claimed that the three were members of a car theft ring and were killed in a shoot-out.

Diokno said that aside from the video, they were holding on to the results of a study conducted by forensic expert Raquel Fortun which showed that all 76 bullets which hit the car were fired by the police.

“It has been seven years. I don’t know [what] to feel anymore,” said Monique Cu-Unjieng La’O, mother of Anton, a 21-year-old student of De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.

“We will keep trying until we get the justice we deserve. We will never give up,” she added.

La’O said they were exhausting all avenues to seek justice but the policemen who were charged remained in active service while some were even promoted.

The accused are Senior Insp. Hansel Marantan, Insp. Samson Belmonte, Police Officers 3 Rizalito Ramos Jr., Lloyd Soria and Dexter Bernardas.

Diokno said that the policemen were neither disciplined nor reprimanded after the alleged rub-out since no administrative complaint was filed against them with the National Police Commission.