5 cops in Bontoc sued for murder of student

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—-The National Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed murder charges against five policemen assigned to the Mt. Province capital, Bontoc, for the Nov. 5 death of a student while he was under police custody.

Stefene Galidan could have died from a beating, and not from injuries caused by a fall from a police vehicle as described by the policemen, according to lawyer Abner Dotimas, NBI special investigator in the Cordillera.

Dotimas said autopsy reports, closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage and witness accounts established probable cause to charge the policemen with the death of Galidan, a business management student of the Mt. Province State Polytechnic College.

Galidan was taken by the policemen to a hospital at dawn of Nov. 5 after he allegedly jumped from a police vehicle that was taking him to the local police station.

Galidan was accosted along with allegedly drunken friends by a patrol that was enforcing a local curfew.

The group supposedly resisted, according to an initial police report, but Galidan later volunteered to ride with SPO4 Rolando Bagangan, SPO4 Michael Napa-eg, SPO3 Lester Faba-an, SPO2 Gaspar Suagen and PO3 Raul Fagsao.

Citing a medical examiner’s report, Dotimas said Galidan died from multiple traumatic injuries. He said Galidan’s skull was fractured, and examiners saw hematoma or blood clots formed at the right side of his head.

The autopsy report said Galidan had lacerated pancreas and a swollen kidney. “These injuries cannot be caused by just falling from the police vehicle and landing on a cemented pavement,” Dotimas said, citing a CCTV footage recorded from a building which showed the police vehicle—a pickup truck— moving slowly toward the police station.

The footage also showed Galidan seated at the back of the vehicle, guarded by three policemen. Dotimas said injuries found on Galidan’s pancreas suggested he may have been struck in the abdomen. He said the pancreas is located deep inside the abdomen and is covered by organs which should have protected it from trauma resulting from a fall, given the slow speed of the vehicle.

The five policemen have been detained at a Bontoc police cell. They are facing administrative charges, according to lawyer Henry Dungala, Cordillera chief of technical services for the National Police Commission. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon