First Tokhang related case filed against PNP

Photo: Noli Ferrer/Facebook.com

Murder complaints were filed against eight police officers by the National Union of People’s Lawyers at the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday.

Attorney Maria Kristina Conti said that the murder complaint was filed on behalf of Mary Ann Domingo against a group of policemen led by Superintendent Ali Jose Duterte for the murder of her husband and son during a police operation in Caloocan City. Conti said that this is only the first of the many complaints to be filed by families of poor victims against the police.

It was in September when Domingo’s husband and son were shot down by policemen and claimed that it was a gunbattle with drug suspects. Contrary to the usual police report, Domingo said it was a shootout.

As for the name of the accused, it has not yet been verified if he is related to the President. Conti said that her group did not specifically pick the case to launch their campaign against extrajudicial killings. It was purely coincidental that the accused shared the same name with the President.

Conti said that is  only the first among the many cases to be filed against policemen regarding extrajudicial killings. She said that other cases would be filed in “coordination with community organizations and church groups as  part of a mounting grassroots campaign against recent rampant human rights violations committed under the ambit of the government’s so-called war against drugs.”
Since Duterte entered office in June, more than 8,000 small-time drug suspects have been killed under his anti-illegal drugs campaign. However, the President had been vocal about his opinion about the legitimacy of his campaign no matter what the cost would be. International groups had already expressed their concern about the ongoing war against drugs.