TEN policemen are facing charges over the violent dispersal of demonstrators in front of the United States Embassy in Manila on Oct. 17.
They are National Capital Region Police Office Chief Oscar Albayalde, Manila Police District deputy director for operations Marcelino Pedrozo, PO3 Franklin Kho and seven other policemen.
The protesters and indigenous people belonging to the Sandugo group have charged them with multiple attempted murder, serious physical injuries and unlawful arrest before the Office of the Ombudsman.
They have also been charged with obstruction of justice, grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority and conduct unbecoming of public officers.
Jerome Succor Aba, a Moro leader and Sandugo co-convener, said they wanted to “set a precedent for the promise of justice under the new administration by filing a case against these police criminals.”
“Police officers such as Pedrozo, Kho and 200 other police officers do not have a place in the government,” he said.
Several protesters were wounded on Oct. 17 when a police van rammed the protesters.
Argee Macliing Malayao and Nicole Soria, through Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, filed the complaint before the Ombudsman.
They urged the Ombudsman to hold Kho liable for attempted murder.
Albayalde was implicated for command responsibility, while Pedrozo and the rest allegedly connived in an attempt to kill them, they said.