Police 'wanted' Parojinogs alive
OZAMIZ CITY -- Police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido, city police director and the commander of the predawn raids that killed 15 people Sunday, July 30, said the police wanted the Parojinogs alive, not dead.
“We wanted them alive and show the people how they are being subjected to the grind of justice. It is better to have them in prison and await the reckoning of the law,” Espenido, who led the team that implemented the search warrants on the houses of the Parojinogs, said.
Asked about the power cut-off, Espenido said he does not have answer why it happened at that time.
“I don’t want to focus on the brownout. Anyway what is important is that the raid is covered by a warrant which makes our operation legal,” he said.
Espenido said the raid on the house of Reynaldo Jr. went well.
“No one was hurt because they showed no resistance. The bodyguard in the house (of Reynaldo Jr.) opened the gate and the door to authorities,” Espenido related.
Authorities claimed to have recovered some firearms and suspected crystal meth (shabu) from the house, leading them to arrest Reynaldo Jr.
But this was not the case in the houses of Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez, Espenido said.
“The raiders had to force their entry into these houses,” he said.
The raids on the three Parojinog houses were done simultaneously, he said, and each raiding team consisted of eight-man assault members with a similar number as security elements.
Espenido related that the mayor’s house is located on a corner, some 25 meters away to the northwest is Nova Princess’ house, and about 200 meters away to the east is Reynaldo Jr.’s house.
The houses of Parojinog and Reynaldo Jr. belong to Barangay Santa Cruz while that of Nova Princess to Barangay San Roque.
Espenido related that when they arrived at the vicinity of Parojinog’s house, they were immediately met with a volley of gunfire.
Some came from atop the mayor’s house, others from nearby houses. The police patrol car’s tire was damaged and a police officer was injured, he said.
In the course of the gunfight, six armed civilians lay dead, all located in spots outside of Parojinog’s house. Four are later identified as civilian peacekeepers.
After neutralizing the resistance outside the house, Espenido related that his team then proceeded to destroy the lock of the gate leading to Parojinog’s house; some troops even scaled its fence. Next was to destroy the lock of the door.
“It took some time to do it. This could have been the window of opportunity for Mayor Aldong to tell his bodyguards inside to calm down and deal with us peacefully. I was expecting him to be upstairs, in his room. So I waited, while also overseeing efforts to take down the door,” Espenido said.
“But before we successfully destroyed the door, we heard an explosion inside the house, then thick smoke bellowed. By the time we entered, we have to evade an attempt to throw grenade at us,” he added.
Espenido said that an initial examination of Parojinog’s wounds indicate these were inflicted by shrapnels, hinting of a grenade explosion as likely killing him.
He related that the same can be described of the wounds of Parojinog’s wife Susan.
“Some of her hair scattered up to the ceiling. Only an explosion like that of a grenade can do that,” he said.
Espenido related that one dead person inside Parojinog’s house had a grenade pin in his right middle finger.
Meanwhile, the Northern Mindanao police released the initial identities of 15 casualties.
Among those killed were city mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr., his wife Susan, his brother Misamis Occidental board member Octavio Parojinog Jr, mayor's sister Mona, Edwin Rusiana, Corlito Ayaay, L. Millanar, a certain "Lando", Eldred Requiron, Nestor Cabalan, Miguel Dela Victoria, Daniel Vasques, Jennirey Manon, Ryan Reguera, and a certain "Iting".
Senior Inspector Julie Garcia, spokesperson of the Misamis Occidental police, said on Monday they are still determining the full identities and the background of other fatalities.
Garcia said he could not confirm if the mayor and his wife were armed during the shootout as the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) has yet to submit their report as of 2:00 p.m., Monday.
"Wala pa kaming report kung armed ba sina mayor and asawa niya. Wala pang report from Soco kung ano reason ng death nila kung gunshot wound ba or sa blast (We don’t have reports yet if the mayor and his wife were armed. Soco doesn’t have a report if they died of gunshot wound or due to the blast)," Garcia said.
Garcia said the serving of the warrant was controlled by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) while the police backed up and assisted the operation.
Garcia maintained that the simultaneous raids in the houses of the Parojinogs were legitimate and had followed proper operational procedures.
Garcia said the CIDG had full control and decision to carry out the implementation of the search warrants on the early hours of Sunday.
"Ang main actors pa talaga dito is CIDG tinap lang po tayo (CIDG is the main actor here and we are tapped) to assist them and provide augmentation. Yung time ng raid hindi po natin jurisdiction yun kasi ang CIDG po ang may control. During po sa briefing yung po ang time na napagkasunduan (When the raid happened, CIDG controls it and it’s not in our jurisdiction. That was what was agreed on during the briefing)," Garcia said. (Alwen Saliring/Ryan Rosauro)