THE Justice Department on Friday ordered the Bureau of Immigration to include in its lookout bulletin order Councilor Ricardo “Arthur” Parojinog, who was able to evade arrest during the raid that led to the death of 15 people, including Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog.
In a memorandum, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II also required the BI to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation to obtain additional information on Parojinog, the brother of the slain mayor, including other known aliases, a recent photo, and a copy of his passport.
Aguirre also required the prosecutor general to regularly update the BI on the status of complaints and cases filed against the Parojinogs.
Aguirre issued his order after the councilor was not at home when the police searched his house, where they found guns and ammunition.
A person subject of an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order can still leave the country but must get clearance from the Justice Department.
On Thursday, the department indicted the two children of the slain mayor, who were arrested after Sunday’s bloody raid.
Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez and her brother Reynaldo Jr. were charged with violating drug and firearms laws.
The siblings opted not to answer the charges in preliminary investigation and instead sought the immediate dismissal of the complaint due to legal flaws in the operation conducted by police.
Their lawyers, led by Ferdinand Topacio, asked why the raid was conducted at 2:30 a.m. when rules require that search warrants be served during daytime.
The lawyers also argued that the vice mayor should be released for failure of the PNP to file the complaint within the 36-hour period prescribed by law to file charges from time of arrest.
Also on Friday, opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said the testimony of a purported witness who survived the bloody raid was “deeply disturbing.”
She noted that serious accusations are being leveled against the police who participated in the operation.
If these prove true, Hontiveros said, what happened in Ozamiz was not a legitimate police operation but a state-sanctioned massacre. She said it would carry the elements and blueprint of the extrajudicial killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
“I call on my fellow senators to uncover the truth behind this bloody incident. It is vital that there be a fair and independent investigation,” she said.
She said that while the Parojinogs might be part of the illegal drug trade as the government charges, the rule of law cannot be disregarded or sidestepped. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
