THE two policemen accused of murdering a motorist inside a squad car en route to the police station denied the accusations against them and insisted victim John dela Riarte resisted arrest and tried to snatch their sidearms.
In separate counter-affidavits, Police Officer 3 Jeremiah de Villa and PO2 Jonjie Manon-og claimed Dela Riarte twice attempted to snatch their firearms, first, when De Villa approached him when he was allegedly kicking and smashing a car using his crash helmet and second, when he was inside the patrol vehicle while on their way to Camp Crame.
De Villa and Manon-og, who both showed up during the preliminary investigation before the Department of Justice, claimed Dela Riarte tried to snatch their firearms.
De Villa narrated that MMDA constables Bayani B. Batac III and Jeslie M. Manlangit tried to subdue Dela Riarte, but he was tall and strong, prompting him to punch the motorcyclist in the stomach and the side.
De Villa said he told Dela Riarte to stop and then he was handcuffed. The victim, however, continued cursing and spewing invectives at them.
He said they decided to take Dela Riarte to Camp Crame. Manon-og rode with Dela Riarte at the backseat while he drove the patrol car.
Manon-og, in his counter-affidavit, claimed that while on their way to Camp Crame, Dela Riarte head butted him and tried to grab his service firearm.
“For a while he [Dela Riarte] was able to hold it and I kept holding/grappling with him and I shouted at PO3 Jeremiah de Villa, ‘hepe inagaw nya baril ko’,” Manon-og said.
De Villa, on the other hand, tried to stop Dela Riarte by shouting at him.
“At that time, the only thing foremost in my mind was to maim and disable John B. dela Riarte so that he could not be a danger to PO2 Jonjie Manon-og and to the public or other motorists as we were in Edsa and the cars were slow moving as it was traffic,” De Villa said.
“In a split second, instinctively, I got my gun and while shouting ‘tumigil ka, tumigil ka! turning half sideways to my right, I pulled the trigger of my gun to disable John B. dela Riarte. The incident happened so fast that I could feel panic rising to my throat when I realized he was bleeding,” he added.
Because of the traffic, he said he could not drive fast enough to the hospital, so he asked Manon-og to put pressure on Dela Riarte’s wounds.
He said Dela Riarte was alive when they arrived at the PNP Hospital. “Afterwards, we were informed that John B. dela Riarte passed away,” both De Villa and Manon-og said.
The two denied the allegations of murder, torture and robbery.
“Any and all the acts I have done were in furtherance of the performance of my duties,” both HPG members said as they asked the DoJ to dismiss the case against them.
Dela Riarte was arrested last July 29 by the two HPG members after he figured in a road altercation with another motorist, Eric Fajardo, in Makati City.
He was handcuffed and taken to the HPG headquarters in Camp Crame but was shot along the way.
In its letter complaint submitted to the DoJ, the NBI complaint said examination showed that the cause of death of the victim was multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen and right thigh. The NBI findings are also consistent with the autopsy report of the Public Attorneys Office Forensic Laboratory.
“The NBI respectfully rested and hereby transmits the entire case folder for proper incorporation to the case earlier filed [by PAO] to aid the resolution and eventual prosecution of the case,” the NBI stated in the letter complaint signed by NBI Director Dante A. Gierran.