Witness claims seeing cops bring Parojinog siblings to Ozamiz mayor's home

Over a week after the deadly police raids in Ozamiz City, a witness on Monday claimed seeing two Parojinog family members being brought to Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr.'s home before hearing a grenade explosion.

The witness named "Angie", a neighbor who lived adjacent to Mayor Parojinog and First Councilor Octavio Parojinog, told GMA News' Rida Reyes in an exclusive interview that she saw police officers firing guns outside Octavio's house.

The policemen then used ladders to get into the Parojinog homes.

Angie claimed seeing police officers take Octavio and his sister Mona to the mayor's home, and then she heard a grenade blast.

Octavio and Mona, along with the mayor and 13 others, were among the fatalities in the predawn police raids.

Police had claimed that the Parojinogs were killed in a shootout.

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Angie added that police officers used flashlights to prevent neighbors and other witnesses from taking videos with their phones.

"Patay kasi 'yung ilaw eh. May mga pulis na 'yung mga flashlight na, palagi silang... sa mga bahay namin, sa labas ng bahay ng mga kapit-bahay namin, ginaganoon ng flashlight. Iniilawan nila 'yung... mga kalye-kalye... para walang taong lalabas. Palagi [rin] silang nagpaputok," she recounted.

Another witness known as "Cesar" had earlier claimed that police planted guns inside the Mayor's home.

Like Angie, Cesar also claimed that some of the bodies of the Parojinog clan had been moved moved around after the raid.

Organized crime

Ozamiz City police commander Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido claimed that the eyewitness accounts  were nothing but attempts to taint the police's credibility, and if these witnesses really wanted to tell their stories they should do so in court.

"Dalhin sa kwan, sa court yan, version nila 'yan. So siguro pakinggan lang, tapos doon na tayo sa documentation," said Espenido.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa also said that they had witnesses of their own whose testimonies would counter those of Cesar's and Angie's.

Meanwhile, Espenido admitted that they were still waiting for witnesses to surface as they did not have enough evidence to file organized crime charges against the Parojinogs.

Ozamiz Vice Mayor Princess Nova Parojinog-Eschavez and her brother Reynaldo Parojinog Jr. were detained in Camp Crame and were facing weapons and illegal-drugs charges. —report from Rida Reyes/Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News