The late Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. (Photo from his Facebook account)
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Northern Mindanao (CIDG-NorMin) has recommended the filing of a criminal complaint against Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and his wife Susana – almost two weeks after the couple, along with 11 other people, were killed, allegedly in a shootout with police officers who tried to serve them a search warrant at their house.
The Department of Justice rejected the complaint by default, according to a member of the DOJ’s Anti-Drug Task Force.
READ: DOJ rejects CIDG-NorMin complaint vs deceased Parojinogs
The Parojinog couple were killed on July 30. According to the police officers involved in the operation, they were serving a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn E. Burgos-Villavert of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
But the Parojinogs, they said, and some of their companions fired at them, some bullets hitting their patrol car and a member of their raiding team, which prompted them to retaliate.
Supt. Tom P. Tuzon, CIDG-Northern Mindanao chief, sent a letter, dated Aug. 11, to the chief state prosecutor of the Department of Justice recommending the filing of a complaint against the deceased Parojinogs for violation of three laws – the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002 (Republic Act 9165), the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act (RA 10591), and Illegal Possession of Firearms and Explosives (RA 9516).
Aside from the two respondents, killed during the raid include Octavio Parojinog Jr., Mona Parojinog, J.R. L. Millanar, Vicente Torregoza, Nestor S. Cabalan, Miguel dela Victoria, Daniel Vasquez, Eldred Requiron, Edwin Teves Rusiana, Carllito Ayaay, and Daryl Parojinog.
During the raid, authorities confiscated several packs of suspected shabu, a caliber 5.7×28 Fredericksburg pistol, three rifle grenades, 58 rounds of live ammunition of caliber 5.7, a total of P362,440 in various denominations, and a Diplomat lock vault. /atm
Part of the CIDG-NorMin letter to the Department of Justice