NCRPO to file admin case vs cops linked to slay of woman in drum

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) is set to file administrative charges against  three policemen allegedly involved in the killing of a businesswoman whose body was found stuffed in a plastic drum fished out in Pasig River last week.

Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao, Metro Manila Police chief, said the NCRPO is readying grave misconduct for serious violation of the law charges against three of its personnel.

They were identified as Inspector Eljie Jacobe, PO1 Mark Jay delos Santos and PO1 Edmond Gonzales, all assigned to the Regional Public Safety Battalion of NCRPO. They all admitted to killing 50-year-old businesswoman Adora Lazatin.

Pagdilao, in a text message to INQUIRER.net, said while the three erring cops are under detention at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters, the NCRPO will issue an order for their relief and automatic leave of absence.

Jacobe, Delos Santos, Gonzales, and their cohorts Domingo Balanquit and Empire Salas are facing kidnapping and murder charges before the Las Piñas Prosecutor’s Office.

The NBI found that the suspects killed Lazatin after she recognized her abductors.

Last April 4, the victim met in a Las Piñas mall with Jacobe’s group who claimed that they were interested to buy a lot she was selling. The suspects then took her to a house along C6 in Taguig City and used her ATM card to withdraw cash from her account.

From the house in Taguig City, the suspects brought Lazatin to another house in Caloocan City where they strangled her to death with a nylon cord. The next day, they stuffed Lazatin’s body into a drum and threw it into Pasig River in Pandacan, Manila. JE