THE National Police Commission (Napolcom)-Northern Mindanao has begun the investigation on the deadly police raid last September 11 that left a family of three dead in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.
The commission is set to conduct pre-charge probe to determine probable cause and allow the policemen involved in the raid to answer the complaint within five days.
"Dili pa siya actually kaso. Complaint pa siya subject for pre-charge investigation (It’s not actually a case. It’s a complaint subject for pre-charge investigation)," Elango said.
The policemen were part of the composite team who implemented two arrest warrants in Purok 6, Taguranao village, dawn of September 11, but the operation turned bloody when the suspect supposedly shot it out with the policemen.
Killed in the raid were the suspect, Bevino Laride, his partner Virginia Delibo, who was three months pregnant, and the couple's five-month old baby.
Lawyer Robert Lou Elango, chairman of the Police Regional Appellate Board of Napolcom-Northern Mindanao, said the pre-charge investigation aims to determine whether the policemen should face summary hearing proceedings.
Elango declined to give details of the complaint so as not to preempt the pre-charge probe that would also establish the offenses possibly committed by the policemen during the operation.
Should the policemen fail to answer the complaint, the investigator will automatically decide on the existence of probable cause and submit a pre-charge investigation report and proceed with the summary hearing.
"Depende na dayon (It depends) kung unsay recommendation. Kung naay probable cause, i-docket na dayon siya (If there is probable cause, it will be docketed) for summary hearing which is easy since there is no actual hearing except the pre-charge conference then submission of position papers and resolution," Elango said.
"Dili mominus sa lima ka police ang involved kay composite team man gud to gikan sa lain-lain unit sa PNP (The composite team is made up of not more than five policemen and they’re from different units of Philippine National Police)," Elango said.
Elango said the policemen implicated in the bloody operation will most likely face serious offenses such as grave misconduct or serious irregularity in the performance of duty.
"Bug-at gyud ni nga kaso kay tulo kabuok namatay. Ingon ani nga kaso ang IAS ila gyud ning i-refer sa Napolcom kay ato man jurisdiction ang summary dismissal cases (It’s a serious case since three people died. IAS handles cases like this and they refer this to Napolcom since the jurisdiction of summary dismissal cases is there)," Elango said.