Cases vs cops in murder of 2 teens raffled off at Caloocan RTC

This photo, taken Oct. 2, 2017, shows PO1 Ricky Arquilita (left) and PO1 Jeffrey Perez at the Senate hearing on the killing of 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman. (Photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The murder and torture cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against two Caloocan police officers accused of killing 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman have been raffled off at the Caloocan Regional Trial Court (RTC).

On Monday, Criminal Case Nos. 102884-102890 against PO1 Ricky Arquilita and PO1 Jeffrey Perez landed at the sala of Branch 122 Presiding Judge Georgina Hidalgo.

All seven cases will be held in joint trial following a motion for consolidation of the charges filed by the DOJ.

The court will have 10 days to decide whether there is probable cause to issue warrants of arrest against the two officers, who are accused of torturing and killing Arnaiz and de Guzman during an alleged encounter last Aug. 18, 2017.

In a 35-page resolution issued on Friday, the DOJ indicted Arquilita and Perez on two counts of murder after finding probable cause to bring them to court over the teenagers’ slays.

They are also charged with two counts of torture and three counts of planting evidence.

Arnaiz and De Guzman, who were last seen together on Aug. 17, 2018, went missing after allegedly figuring in a botched robbery attempt against taxi driver Tomas Bagcal on C-3 Road in Caloocan City.

Arnaiz was found in a Caloocan morgue 10 days later, while a body allegedly that of De Guzman’s was discovered in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, 20 days later. /atm