ALL four Flores gang members who died in a shootout with a joint Cebu and Manila team of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents last week tested positive for gunpowder nitrates in a paraffin test, an indication that they too fired guns.

Rommel Paglinawan, NBI forensic chemist, confirmed this yesterday, adding that the nitrates were still present in the hands of the four fatalities even though he did the test the morning after the incident.

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The NBI recovered four guns from the place of the shootout in Estaca, Compostela Cebu. The guns included an M16 rifle, two forty-fives and a KG9 submachine gun.

All the guns had been fired as indicated by the ejected empty shells littering the area near where the guns were recovered.

Paglinawan said he is still making the report on the results of the test that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7, which has begun a fact-finding investigation on its own initiative, is expected to also want.

As this developed, CHR 7 inspectors yesterday examined the bodies of the four Alvin Flores gang fatalities—Alvin Flores, Ritchie Hijapon, Marc Alejandro Salamanca and Roger Belmonte Sanchez.

Barred

However, the CHR team, led by Primo Cadampog, said that despite having mission orders to check on the bodies, they were initially barred from entering the funeral parlor where the bodies of the suspects were kept.

However, Ruel Catalan, the manager of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junquera St. Cebu City, denied the allegation, adding that they were just following orders from the NBI 7.

Dr. Rene Cam, NBI medico legal officer, confirmed that the funeral parlor representative asked his permission before allowing the CHR team to check the bodies.

“The morgue authorities called me and told me somebody there wanted to take a look. I told them to go ahead because I have already finished my investigation and, in fact, the bodies are ready for release,” Cam said.

Cam’s autopsy showed the cause of death—gunshot wounds-–and injuries common to all four. He explained that he found abrasions on the knees and elbows which, in turn, are consistent with scrapes one would get when crawling over rough terrain.

Alleged gang leader Alvin suffered four gunshot wounds-–one of them was on the right side of the body, another on the left, one in the abdomen and the other in the thigh.

Salamanca also had four gunshot wounds, two of which were located in his chest, one in his left buttock and the other in the right side of the back.

Sanchez had two gunshot wounds, one in the head and the other in the chest, while Hijapon, Flores’ supposed right-hand-man, had a single gunshot wound to the head.

Cam said he, too, is still preparing the official autopsy report but said the CHR inspectors already know where the injuries were, now that they have seen the bodies.

During the CHR investigation proper, Wilfredo Napeñas, one of the investigators, thoroughly checked the bodies of Alvin and two of his cohorts.

The body of Hijapon was already claimed by his relatives and was taken to Bantayan Island to be interred properly.

After checking the bodies, the CHR team concluded that a shootout between the suspects and the NBI operatives occurred based on their gunshot wounds.

However, Cadampog said that the reports on the operation, including the autopsy results from NBI, could clear some of their doubts.

Also, Cadampog added that they may contact their main office in Manila to interview surviving suspect Rene Batiancela to give details on what happened during the shootout.

Meanwhile, a lawyer identified as Atty. Cayetano Santos visited the NBI Thursday to convey the supposed request of the Flores family to recover Alvin’s remains.

“The bodies can now be released because the examination is over,” Cam said.

NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos, continues to decline to comment on the issue, saying it isn’t prudent to issue statements when a fact-finding investigation is ongoing.

A lawyer, he said the NBI has already issued an official report on the matter and, in that report, it is clearly stated that the operation was legitimate and that the use of lethal force was completely justified.

Santos, in an ABS-CBN TV Patrol report, said that the suspects’ family and relatives will no longer file charges against the NBI over the shootout last week.