(Eagle News) – The two Caloocan policemen who allegedly shot and killed 19-year old Carl Angelo Arnaiz had been ordered relieved from their posts, said Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa.
In a press conference, Dela Rosa said that the investigation on this had already started and that National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde had already “relieved the cops involved.”
The cops who were involved were Caloocan Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Perez and Police Officer 1 Ricky Arquilita. They have been already transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa.
The police claimed that Arnaiz, a drop-out student of the University of the Philippines, was killed in a shootout after allegedly being pointed to as a suspect in a taxi hold-up.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has already been ordered to investigate Arnaiz’s killing.
Arnaiz had five gunshot wounds, had handcuff marks, and was apparently mugged, according to the forensic examination of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).
He was taking up interior design in UP before he dropped out of school, and was a graduate of Makati Science High School. He graduated valedictorian during his elementary days.
His relatives claim that he never held a gun in his life.
On Monday the justice ministry ordered an official investigation, said Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.
“The autopsy result appears contrary to the police allegation that he (Arnaiz) had allegedly fought back,” Aguirre told reporters.
A forensic examination by a government agency which provides legal services to the poor found that Arnaiz was tortured and shot dead while handcuffed.
“He was beaten up, his body was full of welts, he had a black eye, gashes as well as handcuff marks,” Public Attorney’s Office chief pathologist Erwin Erfe told reporters, adding that bullet trajectories suggested Arnaiz was shot while kneeling.
Arnaiz was killed the night after local police allegedly murdered 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos, in the same district during a major anti-drug raid on August 16.
Justice ministry investigators last week recommended murder charges against four Manila police officers. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) found they intentionally killed Delos Santos and fabricated evidence against him.
Delos Santos’ killing led to rare street protests against Duterte’s war on drugs. Police have killed more than 3,800 drug suspects since he began his presidency in July last year.
Persida Acosta, head of the Public Attorneys’ Office, told reporters that Arnaiz and a 14-year-old neighbor who remains missing had disappeared from their homes in an eastern Manila suburb 10 days before Arnaiz’s remains ended up in the morgue.
Justice Secretary Aguirre said he had ordered the NBI to locate the missing 14-year-old boy.
(with a report from Agence France Presse)
