Saturday, February 02, 2008 Family of slain cop seeks new probe
THE family of the late PO1 Calvin Dinampo has asked the Regional Trial Court (RTC) to order a reinvestigation on the homicide complaint against the fellow-policeman who shot him last Dec. 24.
In a two-page motion, they expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the Office of the City Prosecutor decided to treat the fatal shooting as a homicide, instead of a murder case.
Represented by lawyer Arnold Valle, they argued that new information tends to support their claim that the shooting was planned and that the killing wasn’t in self-defense on the part of accused PO1 Mark Anthony Manlosa.
They had earlier asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the shooting independently. The NBI has yet to submit its official findings.
“Private complainants have found witnesses that herein accused and another person, whom they likewise want to be prosecuted, have planned the killing of P01 Calvin Dinampo,” the motion read.
According to sources, one of the witnesses can testify that Manlosa, together with another policeman (name withheld as he is not impleaded in the case) and three other unidentified persons were drinking in Barangay Tisa.
While there, the second policeman reportedly said the killing would happen before Christmas.
This second policeman, another witness is supposedly willing to testify, had been monitoring Dinampo’s residence a few days prior.
Two other witnesses are supposedly willing to testify that Dinampo wasn’t even armed during the supposed encounter, making the shooting an execution.
The CCPO Homicide Section filed separate charges against PO1 Manlosa before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor a few days after the shooting.
The first charge was merely for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.
However, Assistant City Prosecutor Jose Nathaniel Andal upgraded the complaint and lodged a criminal case for homicide before the Regional Trial Court. Bail was set at P10,000.
The second charge was for reckless imprudence resulting in physical injuries for wounding a bystander.
Dinampo, who has been in the service four years and assigned to the Talisay PNP Station, died of gunshot wounds in the chest, pelvis and leg allegedly after holding a firecracker vendor hostage.
He supposedly traded shots with PO1 Manlosa of the Cebu City Tourist Assistance Center, a unit under the CCPO.
The alleged shootout took place at the corner of Gold and Silver Sts. in Barangay Tisa at 7:30 p.m. last Dec. 24.
Based on the complaint lodged before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor, Manlosa, together with a companion, passed by the area on a motorcycle and supposedly saw Dinampo carrying a gun.
He approached Dinampo and asked if the latter was a policeman but, instead of responding, Dinampo allegedly took a firecracker vendor, Allan Añana, hostage.
Añana, based on the initial investigation, managed to run free.
A series of shots were then heard. And when the smoke cleared, Dinampo lay bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds.
Manlosa, in an interview with reporters, said he was forced to shoot Dinampo to protect himself as the latter attempted to shoot him first. Fortunately, he said, the latter’s gun didn’t go off. (KNR)
