Partner of slain drug suspect files complaint at NBI vs Pasay cops

A CHICK on top Eric Sison’s casket symbolizes the search for justice over his gruesome killing by the Pasay police. RAFFY LERMA

The live-in partner of pedicab driver Eric Sison asked the National Bureau of Investigation on Thursday to investigate the Pasay policemen who shot and killed him even though he had already announced his surrender.

Rachelle Bermoy was accompanied by representatives of the Commission on Human Rights when she filed the complaint in the National Bureau of Investigation’s Death Investigation Division (DID).

In an earlier interview, Bermoy had insisted that her 22-year-old partner who was shot at least 14 times on F. Muñoz Street in Pasay City on Tuesday was neither a drug user or pusher.

NBI-DID agents, together with members of the Southern Police District (SPD) and Pasay City police, went back to the crime site for an ocular inspection on  Thursday afternoon.

Chief Insp. Joey Goforth, officer in charge for administration of the Pasay police, said they were coordinating with the NBI to show Sison’s relatives that they would not take part in a cover-up.

According to him, the three policemen involved in Sison’s death—Police Officers 1 Jan Irwin Isaac, Melford Orosisimo and Benigno Baladjay—have been relieved and restricted to the SPD headquarters pending the results of an investigation into Sison’s death.

Their superior, Buendia police precinct commander Senior Insp. Oscar Pagulayan, was also relieved on the principle of command responsibility, Goforth added.

According to Goforth, Baladjay said that he shouted out a warning to Sison, asking him to surrender but the victim refused to lay down his gun, prompting Isaac and Orosisimo to shoot him.

Bermoy and her neighbors, however, claimed that the footage taken by a resident showed that Sison was still shot even though he had already announced he was giving up.

According to the report by the Pasay police, the three policemen were patrolling the drug-prone area when they approached Sison who suddenly took out a gun and fired at them.

The police said they fired back, hitting on the foot Sison who ran toward his house. A chase ensued and the victim sought shelter on the roof of a neighbor’s house. He jumped onto another roof, fell and was cornered by the police.