2 Manila cops charged as rob-slay ‘tandem’

Two junior members of the Manila Police District (MPD) have been charged with robbery with homicide for allegedly shooting a man dead after taking his gold bracelet last year.

PO1 Reggie Dominguez and PO1 Jamal Lacsaman were charged Monday in the Manila Regional Trial Court for the death of Jose Anda, whose shooting on Jan. 15, 2013, was witnessed by wife Hairo Joy.

Court records showed that minutes before Anda was attacked, the couple arrived at a pawnshop on Pedro Gil Street in Paco, Manila. Hairo went inside the shop for a transaction while Anda waited for her outside, smoking a cigarette.

Hairo, now the private complainant in the case, said she saw two men on a motorbike stop near her husband. One of them, later identified as Dominguez, approached Anda, pointed a gun at him and took his gold bracelet worth P25,000.

The man shot Anda before fleeing on the bike with his companion, later identified as Lacsaman.

According to Hairo, she later discovered through a security camera footage that one of the people who helped her take her husband to the hospital also took the victim’s necklace worth P17,000.

Lacsaman, who reported to the MPD Headquarters Support Unit, has been absent without official leave since 2012. Dominguez, who was under District Holding and Accounting Section, stopped reporting for duty after the incident and was arrested in June last year.

In his counteraffidavit, Dominguez claimed it was impossible for him to be a suspect since he was celebrating his son’s birthday on that date. He added that it would be illogical for him to engage in robbery since he lived in the same area and used to go on patrol there.

But Assistant City Prosecutor Cecilia Parallag recommended that charges be filed against the two officers, saying Domin-guez’s alibi was a weak defense against positive identification.