2 Mindoro cops in slay of crime crusader back on duty

Zenaida Luz

The two police officers charged with the murder of anticrime crusader Zenaida Luz in Oriental Mindoro province returned to their assignment, with their monthly salaries restored, in the Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) regional police.

Senior Insp. Magdalino Pimentel Jr. and Insp. Markson Almeranez have been put on duty and assigned to the Mimaropa police’s Personnel and Human Resource Doctrine Development Division (R1), according to Supt. William Destura, head of the Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service in Oriental Mindoro.

Although the two were officially “back on duty,” Destura on Monday said they would not be given assignments in the “mainstream [force], like handling a police station or in the [Provincial] Public Safety Company (PPSC).”

They are also not allowed to carry firearms.

Pimentel and Almeranez were relieved from the PPSC and as police chief of Socorro town (Oriental Mindoro), respectively, following their arrest in relation to Luz’s murder.

Luz, 51, was the regional chair of the Citizens Crime Watch, an anticrime watchdog, when she was shot and killed in front of her house in Barangay Maligaya in Gloria town on Oct. 9 last year.

Pimentel and Almeranez, who wore a balaclava and a woman’s wig on the night of Luz’s murder, were arrested by Gloria policemen after a pursuit. Two other suspects escaped.

The policemen were detained in the Gloria police station after two months under hospital arrest. They were later transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation’s detention facility in Manila.

In August, the court handling the murder case allowed their temporary release after posting bail worth a total of P1 million. The court granted the policemen’s petition for bail, saying the prosecution failed to establish “conspiracy” in the murder.

“After they posted bail, their forced leave [in the PNP] was also [lifted] and so [the payment of] their salaries resumed,” Destura said.

The suspension of the payment of their salaries, however, did not cover their two-month stay in the hospital “because the case had not yet been docketed at that time,” Destura said.

Also in August, Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, Mimaropa police director, signed the officers’ dismissal order after they were found liable for grave misconduct.

Records showed that the policemen spent only eight months in detention.

Supt. Imelda Tolentino, spokesperson for the Mimaropa police, said the policemen were asked to report to the regional police office in Calapan City on Oct. 17 to receive a copy of the dismissal order.

Pimentel and Almeranez have yet to file an appeal to the administrative case. On Nov. 3, they sought an extension to file their motion for reconsideration.

Earlier, Luz’s relatives chided the government for claiming that there were no extrajudicial killings (EJKs) on President Duterte’s watch.

According to them, Luz’s death is one that perfectly fits the EJK profile.

“Isn’t it [an EJK] when a state agent, someone in authority, unjustly kills a helpless civilian?” her sister Perlita Alvarez said in an earlier interview. “To me, that should be clear enough.”—MARICAR CINCO