THE claim of the widow of Antonio P. Guatno, the slain barangay captain of Pangyan in Calinan District, Davao City, that her husband was executed by policemen even as he did not put up a resistance as the police claimed is very disturbing.
That no less than Davao City Police Office director Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum earlier claimed that Guatno is a supporter of the New People's Army and even shelters them or keeps their guns, somehow makes us believe that there is an attempt to demonize.
It's just sad that the widow, Lenlen Guatno had said she is not interested in pursuing a case since she does not trust the country's justice system, because justice can only be had through this branch of government -- corrupted or dubious as it may be.
According to Mrs. Guatno they were awakened by loud knocks just before dawn of May 13, the day before elections, and when her husband shouted who's there, they heard the command for them to drop to the floor as the men outside identified themselves as policemen.
“Nanghapa mi nagkamang padulong sa sala nga wala jud bitbit bisan isa. Paghangad nako daghan na kaayo armed men sa sulod sa balay, nakatutok sa amoa. Gipabalik ko sa akong bana sa kwarto ug sya ngpadayon ug kamang sa sala. Nakita nako giguyod nila akong bana padulong sa kusina. Dili na cya makita kay nasalipdan na cya bongbong. Nadunggan nalang namo ang another 5 gunshots,” she said.
(We crawled towards the direction of our living room without carrying anything. When I looked up, I saw armed men inside our house, pointing at us. My husband told me to go back to our room and he continued crawling going to the living room. I saw that he was dragged by the policemen to the kitchen. I could not see him anymore because of the wall. We heard five more shots.)
After hearing the gunshots, she was ordered by the police to stay down. She crawled towards the center of the sala. That was when she caught a glimpse of her dead husband. Worst, the policemen did not even serve the search warrant before they barged in.
Who are these policemen? Who did they bring along as witness as the rules of court dictates? Why were they there in the first place and did not see it important to serve the warrant before threatening the family?
There is a lot that the local police has to answer for. Saying that Guatno is a rebel supporter is never enough to explain why he deserved to be killed. Let us not allow the police to just gloss over what happened and not explain what really happened.
Having said that, bringing back the proposal to arm policemen with body cameras becomes more important than ever. As it is now, it's the policemen's word against the family.