DRUG-RELATED An immediate family member of Luis Bonifacio (left photo) and his son Gabriel Lois, who were killed in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, files a murder case in the Office of the Ombudsman against police officers involved in the killings. —LYN RILLON
A woman who lost her husband and son to the government’s bloody antinarcotics campaign filed murder charges on Tuesday in the Office of the Ombudsman against eight Caloocan City policemen and their informant.
The policemen, led by Chief Supt. Ali Jose Duterte, were accused of murdering Luis Bonifacio and his 19-year-old son Gabriel Lois in their house on Sept. 15, in the guise of a buy-bust operation.
The unarmed Bonifacios were allegedly killed after fighting back—“nanlaban,” as the police explained.
Also named as respondents were police officers Joel Saludes, John Cezar Mendoza, Edgar Manapat, Aldrin Matthew Matining, Harold Jake dela Rosa, Billy Villanueva and Senior Insp. Avelino Andaya.
Also impleaded was informant Harlem Ramos, described by the woman’s daughter as a friend of both Luis and Gabriel Lois.
Administrative sanctions were likewise sought against the policemen for gross misconduct, grave abuse of authority, gross oppression and conduct unbecoming public officers.
According to the widow’s seven-page affidavit, 15 policemen, many of them covering their faces and wearing bulletproof vests, broke into their Caloocan City house in the early morning of Sept. 15, when the family was still sleeping.
The widow said the policemen barged in with their flashlights and rifles, and told the occupants that they were just conducting a “search.” Then, they pointed their guns at Luis.
As she and her younger children were forced out of their house, she said Gabriel Lois tried to plead his father’s innocence: “Why are you doing this? That’s my papa. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
The widow recounted that before she was dragged out of the house, she saw Luis and Gabriel Lois kneeling and pleading for their lives, as they asked about their alleged offenses.
At the same time, her 18-year-old daughter, who was outside the house, called out to her from a van. This stirred fear that the policemen would abduct her.
While trying to get to her daughter, the widow heard gunshots.
She rushed back to her house but was stopped by policemen. She later learned that the two men were taken to the nearby Manila Central University Hospital where death certificates were issued stating that they had died of gunshot wounds to the neck and chest.