A chief of police who was recently removed from his post over the killing of 14 farmers in Negros Oriental was also involved in a controversial arrest that resulted in the killing of an alleged hired killer six years ago, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
Former Negros Oriental police chief Raul Tacaca was head of the Batangas provincial intelligence branch in 2013 when operatives tried to arrest suspected hired killer Fernando Morales, who was killed for supposedly fighting authorities, said Rep. Carlos Zarate.
He made his statement even as a farmer’s group said the killing of the 14 farmers in Negros Oriental might be connected to the government’s moves against communist rebels and land ownership issues in the region.
Negros remains the “hacienda capital of the Philippines,” with much of the land owned and controlled by “hacienderos” decades after a presidential decree and the agrarian reform law that ordered the redistribution of land to independent farmers, said Danilo Ramos, chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
Tacaca allegedly worked for suspected jueteng lord Victor Siman, Zarate said.
Siman and 12 others were killed in a separate alleged rubout in Atimonan, Quezon, that same year.
But Morales’ family said the police did not present any warrant before dragging him outside their home, where he was repeatedly shot.
Zarate said the operation against Morales happened in the wee hours, just like the simultaneous operations that killed the 14 farmers in Negros before midnight last Friday.
The relatives of some of the farmers also claimed that they were not shown an arrest warrant.
Tacaca was relieved from his post over the Batangas operation, but was later reinstated.
Zarate said typically “nothing happens” when policemen accused of irregularity were removed from their posts.
“That’s what they always do. The officers are transferred but after that, nothing happens.”
Police spokesman Bernard Banac told ABS-CBN News he will check Tacaca’s records.
Zarate said there should be an independent investigation into the Negros operations and that the police should release the names of all the officers involved.
Banac earlier said the operations were legitimate and covered by search warrants.
The suspects were “involved in past incidents targeting policemen and soldiers,” Banac said.
A policeman was wounded in the encounter, which “attests to the fact that there was really violent resistance coming from the suspects, which led the police to defend themselves,” Banac said.