John Frances Ompad
Fifteen-year-old John Frances Ompad once told his family that he wanted to enroll in a police academy and become an officer. But that dream was dashed when the Grade 8 student was killed by a policeman past midnight on Aug 20.
Recounting the incident in a statement on Friday, the Rizal Provincial Police Office (PPO) said Ompad’s brother, 19-year-old John Ace, was driving his motorcycle on his way home around midnight that Sunday when he was told to pull over by two men in civilian clothes.
One of them said he was a police officer and asked John Ace to show him his driver’s license.
Instead, John Ace sped away in his vehicle, prompting the policeman—who was accompanied by another man later identified as a civilian—to chase John Ace all the way to his home in the neighborhood of Southville 8B, Barangay San Isidro, in Rodriguez town.
According to the Rizal PPO, John Ace threw his helmet at his pursuers as the policeman was drawing his sidearm.
He and his companion fell to the ground, then fired several shots at John Ace’s direction, just as his younger brother was stepping out of the house to check what was happening. A bullet “accidentally” hit John Frances in the abdomen, police said.
Other family members had also stepped out of the house and were soon rushing the boy to Casimiro A. Ynares Sr. Memorial Hospital in Rodriguez.
Charges filed
The hospital then had him transferred to East Avenue Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City, where John Frances died while undergoing treatment.The Rizal PPO identified the policeman as Cpl. Arnulfo Sabillo, 37, of the Community Police Action Center (Compac) 5 of Rodriguez Municipal Police Station.
Sabillo’s companion, 27-year-old Jeffrey Baguio, was a neighbor of his, police said.
Both have been charged with homicide and attempted homicide and are currently detained at Rodriguez Municipal Police Station Detention Center.Sabillo also faces administrative charges which could lead to his dismissal from the service.
Ompad’s death followed two weeks after the Aug. 5 shooting of 17-year-old Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar by Navotas police who mistook him for a murder suspect they were pursuing.Based on police records, Sabillo had been suspended twice for previous offenses: he was arrested for “alarm and scandal” in Pasig City in 2017 and was suspended early this year due to an administrative case involving failure to settle his debts.
Rizal PPO said it has also suspended all of Sabillo’s colleagues at Compac 5 “for the purpose of further investigation and [for] possible lapses [that] might have occurred during the said incident.”
‘Afraid for our lives’
Ompad’s father, Napoleon, said in a TV interview: “It’s really painful as a father because I raised him to be a good man. I only read on Facebook about teenagers being killed by police, but I did not know that the same would happen to [him].”
“I hope this doesn’t happen anymore to other families. This should be the last killing. It’s heartbreaking to see your own innocent child just being killed by police. He’s not even a thief. He’s just a child looking forward to attending his upcoming classes,” he added.
The Ompad family also want Sabillo and Baguio to be charged instead with murder, a nonbailable offense.
“We’re afraid for our lives,” Ompad’s sister Shiena Dianne said, adding that once Sabillo and Baguio are able to post bail, “they might get back at us since they already know where we live.”‘Excessive force’
Police, however, assured the family of their safety.
Capt. Mariesol Tactaquin, chief of Rizal PPO’s public information office, said in a radio interview on Friday there were lapses in Sabillo’s actions.
Sabillo, she said, should have been in uniform while conducting “Oplan Sita”—the campaign of the Philippine National Police against suspects riding motorcycles.
“And when [John Ace] threw a helmet at Sabillo, he resorted to excessive force. Why would you draw out your gun and fire it several times at an unarmed person?” Tactaquin pointed out further.
Lt. Col. Ruben Piquero, chief of Rodriguez police, said Sabillo did not follow the PNP’s operational procedures.
“During the hot pursuit, he should have remained calm and subdued the person he was pursuing. He should have arrested him without having to use his gun,” Piquero said in an interview with Net25.
Police are also looking into why Sabillo was accompanied by a civilian. They said they are also checking John Ace’s claim that Sabillo and Baguio smelled of liquor.
Col. Rainerio de Chavez, officer in charge of Rizal PPO, said in a statement: “We are saddened to learn about the incident. Such acts of violence have no place in our society. We strongly condemn the death of the victim, Mr. John Frances Ompad.” INQ