MANILA — The Department of Justice on Tuesday began its probe on the killing of a couple in Nasugbu, Batangas almost a year since they were shot dead during the service of search warrants by police officers, in what became known as "Bloody Sunday".

Rosenda Lemita, mother of Ana Mariz “Chai” Lemita-Evangelista, half of the couple killed during the incident, attended the start of the preliminary investigation at the DOJ main office in Padre Faura, Manila on Tuesday afternoon.

Accompanied by her lawyer from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Julian Oliva, Jr., Lemita subscribed to her complaint-affidavit before DOJ prosecutors, still optimistic that justice will soon be within reach for the death of her daughter and son-in-law.

“Umaasa talaga ako na mabigyan sila ng hustisya dahil wala naman talaga silang kasalanan,” she said, holding back her tears.

(I really hope that they will be given justice because they didn’t do anything.)

Based on their death certificates, a bullet pierced through Chai’s heart, lungs, liver and intestines while her husband Ariel Evangelista sustained gunshot wounds in his heart and lung.

Police have claimed the couple fought back and resisted arrest.

But witnesses, including Evangelista’s 10-year-old child who was sleeping in the same room with the couple, saw how they were dragged out of their cottage, brought to a nearby house where shots were soon heard.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), as part of the AO 35 task force on extra-judicial killings, found “deliberate intent to kill” on the part of the arresting law enforcers and filed murder complaints against 17 cops.

New details about the murder rap filed against 17 cops over the Bloody Sunday killing of the Evangelista couple in Batangas — the names of the 17 cops involved are named in this copy of the NBI complaint file before the DOJ. pic.twitter.com/4JLll9qeTN

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) January 15, 2022

The operating team, the NBI said, wore bonnet masks despite serving the warrant in the wee hours of the morning.

Other members of the team supposedly told neighbors to close their windows and warned guests of the couple’s cottage business not to take videos.

“The trajectory of the bullet, based on the location of the entry and exit points of the fatal wounds and the organs to which the bullet penetrated or perforated, per Medico-Legal Report Nos. BA-038-2021 and BA-039-2021, suggests that the spouses where (sic) in upright position and at a lower position than the shooter,” the NBI report said.

Apart from finding probable cause to file murder complaints, the NBI also found that police operatives took advantage of superior strength.

It also found irregularities in the service of the search warrant as the house subject of the warrant was not in fact where the couple lived, but the house where they were taken to and eventually killed.

NBI found that the cops’ witness pointed to a wrong house in the application for search warrant. The Evangelistas lived on a cottage and had to be brought to the house in the search warrant where they were killed. Neighbors told to close windows, not to take videos. pic.twitter.com/4vvmAmHV7x

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) January 15, 2022

Seventeen policemen were named respondents in the NBI’s complaint before the DOJ:

• Police Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Nandu
• Police Lieutenant Arjay Santos
• Police Master Sergeant Rafael Roque
• Police Master Sergeant Mark Tolentino
• Police Staff Sergeant Elvern Cacatian
• Police Staff Sergeant Rodel Sillacay
• Police Staff Sergeant Edgar Brinas
• Police Corporal Aldrin Gabrillo
• Police Corporal Allen Lugue
• Patrolman Julio Bautista
• Patrolman Ray Boom Boom Dalingay
• Patrolman Grizzly Paras
• Patrolman Rogelio Ninolla
• Patrolman Ruel Tenoso
• Patrolman Rich John Melniel Tumacder
• Patrolman Renzo Santos
• Patrolman Mark Lester Padul

• NBI files murder complaint at DOJ vs 17 policemen tagged in 'Bloody Sunday' killings of fisherfolk leaders

They were not present during Tuesday’s probe, as their lawyer, Rodrigo Moreno, asked for more time for his clients to be able to file their counter-affidavits. They were given until March 15.

The complainant’s witnesses, too, have yet to subscribe to their affidavits, prompting the prosecutors to set it on March 1.

Without discussing the merits of the complaint, Moreno defended his clients against accusations they murdered the couple.

“I’d like to emphasize that my clients are not killers, they are not murderers. They did not go there to kill anybody. They went to the site to implement the law, to execute the search warrant. They are not killers, contrary to what is being alleged against them,” he said.

He also complained that his clients may have already been pre-judged in the eyes of the public.

“I think it’s very unfair, the accusations being made against our law enforcers. As a society, we need to make up our minds. We keep claiming we want the rule of law in society. Who will enforce the rule of law? Is it not our security services? So why do we keep throwing brickbats at them whenever they do their jobs? It’s really unfair,” he said.

“Remember, if we say we want rule of law, it means the laws of the land, including Republic Act 10591, the law against illegal possession of firearms which was the subject of the warrant,” he added.

The killing of the Evangelista couple is just one of several incidents that took place of March 7 last year, when the police and the military implemented 24 search warrants in the Calabarzon region that left 9 activists dead and 4 others arrested.

Another murder complaint had been filed in December last year against the cops involved in the killing of BAYAN-Cavite Chapter local coordinator Emmanuel Asuncion in Dasmariñas, Cavite and is the subject of a separate probe.

• 17 cops face murder complaint over killing of labor leader on ‘Bloody Sunday’

Various groups, including fisherfolk group PAMALAKAYA, have called for a thorough probe into the couple’s deaths. They were part of a local chapter of PAMALAKAYA and advocated against coastal and land conversion.

Chai’s mother, for her part, vowed to fight it out until the end, no matter how long it takes.

“Ilalaban ko po ito, kung anuman po ang aabutin ng aming pakikipaglaban pero umaasa po kami na magtatagumpay dahil kami po ay nasa tama,” she said.

(I will fight for this wherever it leads us but we are hoping to succeed because we are on the right side.)

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In a statement Monday, just before the start of the DOJ probe, NUPL welcomed the formal filing of the complaint but hopes “the buck would stop all the way to the top.”

“Also, we expect the DOJ to also demonstrate similar resolve with respect to the other cases of those illegally arrested and detained. This is imperative especially in the light of continuing brazen violations of the law as exemplified by what reports would reveal as a Gestapo-like arrest of a doctor activist who is facing apparently dubious and clandestine charges that resulted in a shotgun warrant against 300 others,” said Edre Olalia, NUPL president.

On Friday, community doctor-activist Maria Natividad “Nasty” Castro was arrested by law enforcers in her house in San Juan City over a criminal charge for kidnapping with serious illegal detention.

Her lawyer plans to question the arrest and the case filed against her, while various groups have called for her release.

• Detained community doctor moved to Agusan del Sur jail
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