(Eagle News) — The Philippine National Police so far sees no lapses in the way investigators are handling the case of slain National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Randall Echanis.
“We always give them the presumption of regularity. We allow them to perform their task,” PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said in a television interview on Thursday, Aug. 13.
Banac issued the statement after there was an apparent mix-up in the identification of Echanis, who was stabbed, together with his neighbor, in an apartment in Quezon City.
The Quezon City Police District had said in the initial stages of the investigation that the body recovered from the apartment was Manuel Santiago’s, not Echanis’, based on the identification card recovered from the place.
But Echanis’ widow Erlinda already maintained the body was her husband’s.
The police, however, noted that a fingerprint or a DNA test was needed to determine the real identity of the body.
On Wednesday afternoon, the police confirmed that based on a fingerprint test, Erlinda’s claim about the body was true.
“As you know, in criminal investigation and legal proceedings, napakahalaga po ma-identify ang person lalo na dead body,” Banac said.
