PNP says homicide case vs Marcos, 18 officers still “ongoing”: spokesman

July 14, 2017

The Philippine National Police said the homicide case against  Supt. Marvin Marcos and 18 other officers involved in the killing of the late Leyte mayor in 2016 is "ongoing". "We will clear it because they thought it ended there, the criminal case is continuous. They will still face the homicide case for killing Mayor Espinosa (Rolando Espinosa Sr) and (Raul) Yap", said Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos, the PNP spokesman. He said when government prosecutors downgraded the murder case against the policemen to homicide the officers were able to get bail and "returned to duty status". "When police officers were detained or placed in a detention facility, they are on leave of absence...When the case was downgraded to homicide and allowed them to post bail, the leave of absence of these PNP personnel were lifted. Thus, with the lifting of LOA , they were placed on duty status", Carlos said. Their leaves of absence was lifted on July 11. The officers appealed for a motion for reconsideration in the Internal Affairs Service, Carlos said. He said the IAS decided based on individual participation of the officers to the crime. "The officers outside.. does not know what is happening inside. The others were perimeter security,. The gravity taken by those that shot the two victims is different", Carlos said. There are 13 police officers and six regional maritime unit members involved in the case. Carlos said PNP want to follow the right procedure to avoid violating rights of the suspects. Carlos said the PNP is supporting the case filed by the National Bureau of Investigation against the Marcos and 18 others. "The effort of the PNP is to provide NBI all evidence, affidavit ... that we have. The court will decide", he said. (Alanna Ambi/ DMS)