DUMAGUETE CITY — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) exhumed and autopsied Wednesday afternoon the remains of a former police officer who was killed during an anti-illegal drugs operation last January in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, upon the request of his parents who said they were “seeking justice” for their slain son.
Dr. Jess Cañete, special field investigator, and the CHR-Negros Oriental chief, said that the body of the ex-policeman, identified as PO2 Roderick Maquita, was autopsied as a matter of procedure to determine certain things related to his death following the request of the mother, Perlita Maquinta.
Maquita, a dismissed policeman who was allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade, was killed by operatives of the Dumaguete City police force in the evening of January 9, this year, along Bishop Epifanio B. Surban Street, in the vicinity of the entrance of the gate of the Holy Child Hospital.
A forensic team from the CHR central office in Manila, headed by Dr. Ludivino Lagat, performed the autopsy at a private cemetery in Barangay Bagacay in this capital city on Wednesday afternoon.
A report from the Dumaguete police station had said that Maquinta allegedly tried to shoot it out with police operatives during a buy-bust operation around 9:45 p.m. on January 9, this year.
The police report had said that Maquinta allegedly sold suspected shabu to an undercover operative but then sensed it was a trap and so he allegedly attempted to pull out his gun, prompting the police officers to fire at him.
Police operatives recovered from the crime scene three big transparent plastic sachets of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) granules, three smaller plastic sachets containing suspected shabu, a .45 caliber pistol with a magazine and six live ammunition, a wallet containing PHP10,671.25, three empty shells of a 9mm pistol, one deformed slug for a 9mm firearm and other items.
CHR special field investigator Cañete said the autopsy was conducted not as a “witch-hunting activity” but to determine the trajectory of the bullets that entered the body of the suspect, to recover slugs if there were any, to determine the caliber of the firearm or firearms used, and to determine the possible position of the shooter(s) and the victim, in the hope of finding enough evidence required in the filing of appropriate charges against anybody.
According to Cañete, the CHR cannot anymore rely on the police blotter and verbal pronouncements of the police because of a standing order and memorandum from the Office of the President not to provide documents to the CHR in situations like this one and so they are conducting their own investigation upon the request of the family.
He said that in the absence of the police investigation report, the CHR would be forced to file the information based on their own findings including the findings of forensic experts and so the burden of proof is shifted to the concerned operatives to justify if the former police officer was killed as a matter of self-defense or not.
Although not official, Cañete said Maquinta’s bullet wound on the left temporal portion of his head did not pierce through the skull, which was indicative that the bullet may have hit first a hard object before hitting the victim.
Two other bullet wounds were found in the abdomen and in the chest, but these were still being determined if both were entry or exit wounds.
Meanwhile, the parents vehemently declined an interview with the reporters who were present during the exhumation and autopsy and even chided the latter for not getting their side of the story when the shooting happened.
The parents, however, said in a casual conversation with the reporters that they could not accept previous pronouncements that their son Roderick Maquinta was a “big fish” in the illegal drugs operation that had caused him to be transferred from one police station to the other.
After his assignment in Dumaguete, he was assigned to Dalaguit, Alegria and Santander police stations, all in Cebu province.
Police interviews showed that Maquinta went on AWOL (absent without leave) and was eventually dropped from the roster but the parents said they never knew of their son’s dismissal from the police service.
During the exhumation, Maquinta was wearing a complete police uniform and the mother said the national headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City allowed the deceased policeman to wear his uniform in the absence of any dismissal order.
The father and the mother said their son was not a notorious criminal, unlike those who were arrested with kilos of shabu and yet have remained alive.
Cañete said the investigation would center on whether there was a violation of the rule of law in the death of Maquinta, to find out who was involved, and to get their version so that fairness would prevail.
But if the police operatives concerned would invoke the memorandum circular issued by the office of the President, the CHR, he said, had no other recourse but to submit its findings to the court. (With report from Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)
