The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Oriental has begun its motu proprio investigation into the deaths of five people who were killed in a shootout with specially trained police combatants in Mabinay, Negros Oriental last week.
Dr. Jess Cañete, Ph.D., special investigator and chief of the CHR-Negros Oriental, disclosed Thursday that the CHR central office in Manila will be sending over next week two forensic teams to exhume the bodies of the slain men and conduct autopsies as part of the investigation process.
Each team will comprise one medico legal doctor and two assistants, plus Cañete, who will also be actively involved in the forensic investigation.
According to Cañete, he already met early this week with the families and relatives of those killed in the encounter in Barangay Bulwang, Mabinay between personnel of the Regional Public Safety Battalion-7 (RPSB-7) and the purported organized crime group.
The family members have cooperated in the investigation initiated by the CHR and have signed a conformé allowing for the autopsy of their dead relatives, Dr. Cañete disclosed Thursday.
To be exhumed and autopsied are the bodies of Feliciano “Fely” Candido, the alleged leader of the purported organized armed group, Cedric Region, Angel Torres, Renato Torres and Graciano Embalsado, who were shot dead during the November 18 exchange of gunfire with RPSB-7 policemen at the compound of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Bulwang.
To recall, Candido’s group had proceeded to the DENR office in Bulwang last week to negotiate for the release of a chainsaw belonging to one of their companions which was earlier confiscated for alleged illegal tree cutting at a reforestation site in Mabinay.
DENR-Mabinay station chief Dionesia Trongcoso had then asked for police assistance after alleging that there were armed men at their office.
In the course of discussions, police personnel asked one of the civilians in Candido’s group to volunteer for inspection after noticing a bulging waist.
However, another person in the group allegedly fired at the police first, triggering a shootout which left five men dead, one other civilian wounded, three civilians arrested and three policemen also slightly wounded.
Police later recovered firearms and ammunition from the civilians, with those arrested already charged in court.
It was learned later that four of the five civilians slain were members of the Bais City’s Civil Security Office (CSO).
The CSO personnel who died in that encounter were Candido, holding the position of Security Agent 1, and Regino, Anghel Torres and Renato Torres, all job order employees of Bais City.
The families of these men are alleging that they were not killed in a shootout but were shot at close range, something that Cañete said he would include in his investigation.
Cañete said he will be requesting for copies of the investigation reports of the Scene of Crime Operatives (SOCO) who had responded immediately after the shootout.
Apart from these, Cañete said he will also be taking the affidavits of family members and some witnesses to the shooting incident.
If warranted, he will also summon the concerned RPSB-7 personnel after the autopsy reports are out, Cañete added.
The bodies of Candido, Angel Torres, Renato Torres and Graciano Embalsado are buried at the cemetery in the Bais City proper while that of Cedric Regino will be exhumed from the cemetery in Sitio Tabuak, Barangay Sab-ahan, also in Bais City.
The autopsy and forensic investigation is expected to run for three days, Cañete disclosed. (PNA)
