ONE of the two highway patrol cops who were charged of killing a motorist inside a police squad car last month jumped to his death from a building in Camp Crame Saturday morning, a day after the first hearing of the murder charges against him.
Police Officer 3 Jeremiah de Villa was declared dead on arrival by physicians at the Philippine National Police Hospital at about 9:45 a.m. after he jumped from the rooftop of the Police Security Protection Group building, said acting Highway Patrol Group chief Senior Supt. Antonio Gardiola.
“This morning, he was seen walking around and heading toward the neighboring [PSPG] building. He was assigned there before. We don’t know why, we just learned that he went to the roof deck and jumped,” Gardiola said.
Sources at the HPG said De Villa appeared to be disturbed since shortly before his preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice on Friday because his mother had recently died.
De Villa and PO2 Jonjie Manon-og both went to the DoJ to attend the preliminary investigation on the robbery, torture and killing of motorcyclist John dela Riarte who was shot inside a patrol car while on their way to Camp Crame for a traffic violation.
The two policemen 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 narrated in his counter-affidavit 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 hit the motorcyclist in the stomach and the side of his abdomen.
De Villa said he told Dela Riarte to stop and then he was handcuffed. The victim, however, continued cursing and spewing invectives at them so 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 claimed that while on their way to Camp Crame, Dela Riarte head butted him and tried to grab his service firearm. De Villa, on the other hand, tried to stop Dela Riarte by shouting at him.
“At that time, the only thin 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.