Ortigas ‘rubout’ victims’ kin want cops’ arraignment deferred

MANILA, Philippines — The families of the victims in the alleged police rubout in Ortigas Center back in 2005 want to stop the arraignment of policemen for homicide charges, saying their opposition to the downgrading of charges from murder is still pending with the high court.

Lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno said the arraignment of the accused police officers, which was postponed from Tuesday to next week, would render their Supreme Court petition moot and academic.

“Even if the SC ruled that the charges should be murder, the court cannot upgrade the charges if the accused have been arraigned,” he said at a press briefing in Pasig City.

On Monday, Diokno filed an urgent motion asking the high tribunal to issue a temporary restraining order on the arraignment.

“Rubout is the worst form of impunity… We have the video, not just statements of witnesses to prove it,” Diokno said.

“Thus, it would be wrong to stop fighting when we know we are on the right side,” he said.

The lawyer was referring to the UNTV video, which showed policemen shooting at close range Anton Cu-Unijieng, Francis Xavier Manzano and Brian Anthony Dulay even as they lay motionless in a car on Garnet Street in Ortigas, Pasig City, on Nov. 7, 2005.

The police claimed that the three, allegedly members of a car theft ring, were killed in a shootout.

Diokno said the hard evidence they got, apart from the video, was the result of a study of forensic expert Raquel Fortun, which showed that all 76 bullets fired at the car came from the police.

In 2009, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of homicide charges against the police officers. But the charges dated Jan. 6, 2009 were filed only on Oct. 10, 2011.

“It has been seven years. I don’t know how to feel anymore,” Monique Cu-Unijieng La’O, mother of alleged rubout victim Anton, a 21-year-old student of the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.

La’O said they have exhausted all means to seek justice but those involved in the “rubout” have been able to stay in active service and some were even promoted.

The officers were neither disciplined nor reprimanded because of the shootout since no administrative complaint was filed at the National Police Commission.

Diokno said that when the families filed a complaint at the Napolcom, they were told by the officials that they would be committing forum-shopping because the Ombudsman had been handling the case already.

“We will keep trying until we get the justice we deserve. We will never give up,” Diokno told the reporters.