DOJ panel recommends murder raps vs cops over activist death during ‘Bloody Sunday’ ops

The Department of Justice (DOJ)'s AO 35 special investigating team (SIT) has recommended the filing of murder charges against law enforcers allegedly involved in the death of an activist during simultaneous police operations in Calabarzon early this year, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday.

Guevarra said the AO 35 SIT has recommended filing murder charges against certain law enforcement agents after the death of Emmanuel "Manny" Asuncion, one of the nine activists killed during the police operations dubbed as Bloody Sunday.

Six other activists were arrested during the operation last March 7, according to the Police Regional Office 4A.

The DOJ secretary also bared that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been conducting interviews of witnesses in the death of couple Chai and Ariel Evangelista, members of the Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Pagwawasak ng Kalikasan at Kalupaan.

“In the case of the death of the Evangelista spouses, the NBI is winding up its interviews of witnesses, and the SIT report will be out in about two weeks,” Guevarra told the reporters.

He further said the deaths of Puroy and Randy dela Cruz were not included in the probe as “no cause-oriented connection was established.”

He added that other SIT investigations are still ongoing.

Meanwhile, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes welcomed the filing of murder charges against the police involved in the killing of the activists during the police operation. He also appealed for justice for the other victims.

“It was this year that we joined the victims in a dialogue with the DOJ TF AO35 with the hopes that a thorough investigation would happen and charges filed against the perpetrators of the killings,” he said in a statement.

“The Bayan Muna Cavite spokesperson Manny Asuncion criminal complaint is the first to be filed, but it shouldn’t be the last. All the 9 killed in the police raids were unarmed and were murdered. They deserve justice,” he added.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Chitadel Gaoiran, PRO4A public information office chief, earlier said that the police regional office, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Regional Field Unit 4A, CIDG National Capital Region, Special Action Force, SAF Air Unit with the 202nd Brigade, 2ID and the Philippine Army conducted simultaneous implementation of search warrants against communist terrorists in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal area.

Six of the fatalities were reported in Rizal, two in Batangas, and one in Cavite. Also, six people were arrested including three in Laguna and another three in Rizal.

Gaoiran added that at least nine people are still at large including one in Batangas and six in Rizal.

In November, a Tanauan City court voided a search warrant issued against an activist whose home was among those raided by policemen during the "Bloody Sunday" operations.

In an eight-page decision, the court also declared as quashed the information against Erlindo Baez, a Bayan coordinator in Batangas, and the cases against him as dismissed.—Richa Noriega/AOL, GMA News