Ozamiz
City—By sheer chance, the police raids here last Sunday, July 31, that killed Mayor
Aldong Parojinog and 14 others left a lone survivor who is telling what he
knows about that fateful dawn when he almost encountered death.
Manila
sources obtained by The Philippine Preview said a certain alias Cesar revealed
through a video testimony recorded by the Parojinog family that “he saw police
throwing grenades and shooting Parojinog and his wife as they were rounded up
in the corner of the mayor’s residence.”
Cesar,
a worker of Board Member Octavio Parojinog, was quoted as having claimed they
were told to come down from upstairs to the sala inside the mayor’s house and
gather together around Mayor Parojinog.
“Pagdating
nina mayor doon inipon kami... ako nakadapa sa harap ni Mayor. Nagulat ako
maya-maya lumabas ang mga pulis hindi ko alam ano ang dahilan, maya-maya may
naghagis ng granada, tinamaan ako," Cesar said in the video.
Cesar
also alleged that he said he saw police shooting Mayor Parojinog and his wife
at close range.
As
this developed, City Police Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido said Cesar should tell
the whole truth regarding his allegations about the Parojinogs being shot
point-blank and blown up with grenade.
Espenido
added they could not say for sure if the Parojinogs were shot at close range
since it was dark when the incident happened.
“Kami
nga may mga flashlight, mahirapan kami magtingin…Nahirapan nga ang police
pagpasok. May usok na, brownout pa,” he said in one interview with reporters.
The
police chief stated it is best to rely on the result of the SOCO report in
order to know the distance, if either gun or grenade killed the mayor and the volume
of fire as there was an exchange of gunfire and shooting of guns during that
time.
Cesar
said he survived the ordeal when he wiped up some of the mayor’s blood on his
body and played dead until rescuers came at early morning hours.
The
PNP Crime Laboratory has said they have completed the autopsy on the bodies of
the Parojinogs. Seven out of the 15 casualties have yet to be autopsied. Thirteen
of them already underwent paraffin tests.
Meanwhile,
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, in an interview with Karen Davila of ABS-CBN, when
asked if there is any reason to believe that police officers aren't telling us
the whole story when it comes to Ozamiz raid, replied “We're still waiting for
the things to unfold.”
“Right
then and there and there's a possibility that it will be lost or taken away at
any time. But according to the police, the house was under surveillance for
quite a long time already” he said in the interview.
“We’ll
find out in the few days, because I don't think there were any casualties on
the part of the PNP kung nanlaban. Probably a lot of them or too many of them
for the security forces of the mayor (has) been able to put a fight.”
“Kung
may abuse man yung pulis, hindi pa ako nakahandang sabihin 'yon pero siguro
dapat magpaliwanag pa at mag-esplika pa ang kapulisan kung ano nga ba ang
nangyari, bakit nagkaganon? Hindi naman pwedeng we were met by a volley of fire
and everyone is killed and nobody is killed in our side. They should I think be
more detailed in their explanation,” Escudero added.
When
asked if he is hopeful of any kind of justice and if he believes there could be
police impunity in this situation the senator explained “That's what we're
trying to prevent in the Senate actually, and that's we were afraid of from the
beginning that if you give them so much confidence, impunity will result on the
part of law enforcement officers.” (MICHAEL MEDINA)