Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS)
MANILA, Philippines — In the second criminal conviction of law enforcers for drug war killings during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, a dismissed Caloocan policeman was convicted on Monday for the murders of teenagers Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman in 2017 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
“After careful examination and perusal of the several pieces of evidence presented as well as the testimonies of all parties, this court finds accused [former Police Officer 1] Jefrey Sumbo Perez guilty [beyond reasonable doubt]…,” Judge Romana Lindayag del Rosario of the Navotas Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 287 said in her 80-page decision.
The court ruled that Perez “intentionally killed” the two teenagers based on medical findings that showed Arnaiz had five bullet wounds while De Guzman was stabbed 28 times.
It sentenced him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, or 40 years in jail without eligibility for parole. On top of this, he was ordered to pay the kin of each victim P100,000 for civil indemnities, P200,000 for moral and exemplary damages, and P45,000 for actual damages.
Perez’s co-accused, PO1 Ricky Arquilita, was absolved of any liability in the double murder after he died in detention in April 2019 due to suspected hepatitis.
Reached by the Inquirer for comment, Xerxes Garcia, who served as lead prosecutor in the murder case before his promotion to a judge, said that Perez’s conviction was “the answered prayer for the families of Carl Arnaiz and alias ‘Kulot’ (De Guzman) who remained steadfast in securing justice for their sons despite the many struggles during the trial along with the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“This conviction shows that extrajudicial killing has no place in our civilized society. The message is clear: [a] human rights violation [disguised as] ‘thwarting the evils of illegal drugs’ is not [a] ‘war on drugs,’ but is a war against our basic right to live. Our courts will remain to be in the front line in protecting this very essence of our existence, and will continue to be a testament to a sound and working justice system in our country,” Garcia added.
The 19-year-old Arnaiz and 14-year-old De Guzman went missing on Aug. 17, 2017, after they were last seen together in Cainta, Rizal.
Arnaiz’s body was found by his parents at a morgue in Caloocan City 11 days later while that of De Guzman was found floating in a creek in the City of Gapan in Nueva Ecija on Sept. 5.
Police claimed that Arnaiz had tried to rob taxi driver Tomas Bagcal on C-3 Road in Caloocan City and that he was killed in a shootout with Perez and Arquilita, who said they responded to Bagcal’s call for help.
But during the preliminary investigation, Bagcal and another witness, Arnold Perlada, said that they saw the policemen shoot Arnaiz, while he was kneeling and pleading for his life, on the morning of Aug. 18, 2017.
In November of that same year, the Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service ordered the dismissal of Perez and Arquilita for grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a police officer over the killing of Arnaiz.
Both were found guilty in November 2022 by presiding Judge Rodrigo Pascua Jr. of the Caloocan City RTC Branch 122 of torturing and planting evidence against the two teenagers. With Arquilita dead, only Perez was sentenced to reclusion perpetua for the torture charge in addition to two life terms for the planting of evidence. He was also ordered to pay the heirs of each victim P2 million in moral and exemplary damages.
The murder case against the two policemen, on the other hand, was transferred to Navotas City, because according to witnesses, it was where they saw the accused shoot the victims.
High-profile cases
The killing and torture of Arnaiz and De Guzman were among the most high-profile cases in Duterte’s bloody drug war, including the murder of 17-year-old Kian Loyd de los Santos, also in August 2017.
In November 2018, the Caloocan City RTC sentenced police officers Arnel Oares, Jeremias Pereda, and Jerwin Cruz to life imprisonment for the killing of De los Santos — the first conviction of law enforcers tasked to go after drug suspects.
Government data placed the death toll of the drug war during Duterte’s term from July 2016 to May 2022 at 6,252 individuals, but human rights groups said that the actual number could be three times higher because of sloppy investigation and in a number of documented cases, falsified death certificates.
In 2019, the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into the drug war killings but the Philippine government asked for a deferment, saying it had already started its own probe.
Although the ICC initially granted the government’s request, it decided in January this year to resume its own investigation, saying the efforts taken by Philippine authorities “do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps.”