Charges for four counts of attempted murder and two counts of physical injuries have been filed against the man arrested with Ryan Joseph Jaworski—son of basketball legend and former Sen. Robert Jaworski—following a botched entrapment operation in Makati City last Saturday.
In a four-page resolution dated Sept. 23, Makati Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Gaudencio Tolledo Jr. recommended the filing of the charges against Joselito Au, the alleged driver of the getaway vehicle used by Jaworski and another accomplice, Ferdinand Parago, who escaped.
Jaworski and Au were arrested at the Makati Medical Center on Sept. 19 after a tip led the police to the hospital where the senator’s son had sought treatment for a gunshot wound on the thigh. Just hours before, the three men were the targets of an entrapment operation at the corner of Chino Roces Avenue and Arnaiz Avenue in Makati City for their suspected involvement in gunrunning activities.
No transaction, however, took place because Jaworksi and his accomplices sensed the presence of the police. A shootout ensued before the suspects escaped in a maroon Nissan Sentra.
According to the prosecutor, Au’s act of driving their getaway vehicle—which was sandwiched between two vehicles used by the police operatives, a Nissan Urvan and a white Nissan Sentra—in reverse and “deliberately hitting” (rear-ending) one of the police vehicles “clearly [constituted] the offense of slight physical injuries.”
Tolledo said the maneuver caused “injuries upon the persons” of Insp. Joy Opalec and SPO1 Dennis Venus who had just alighted from the Nissan Urvan.
Apparent conspiracy
He added that Au also [appeared] to be in conspiracy” with Jaworski when the latter, who was seated in the passenger seat, “suddenly and unexpectedly shot” at operatives PO2 Gerardo Navarro, PO3 Joel Sanchez, PO3 Richard Cenon and the police informant who were in the white Nissan Sentra that was right in front of the suspects’ vehicle.
“Based on the evidence at hand, there appears [to be] sufficient evidence to hold Au liable for four counts of attempted murder and two counts of slight physical injuries,” Tolledo said in the resolution approved by Emmanuel Medina, deputy city prosecutor.
Tolledo, however, said that there should be a preliminary investigation of the charge for violating Section 3(d) of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act or Republic Act No. 10591 “to clarify Au’s participation, if any, in the alleged act of selling [an] M4 Armalite rifle.”
A preliminary investigation should also be conducted to determine who among the occupants of the maroon Nissan Sentra
—Jaworski, Au or Parago—had possession of the shotgun found in the trunk of the getaway vehicle, he added.
“Further, it is recommended that a preliminary investigation be conducted [with] respect to… [the charge of] direct assault against [Au and Parago],” Tolledo said.
The complaints against Au were raffled off to Judge Benjamin Pozon of the Makati Regional Trial Court or Branch 139 on Thursday.