Three weeks after the Feb. 17 car chase and firefight between cops and suspected car thieves along Edsa, two headstrong and fiercely independent women at the forefront of the justice system find themselves at loggerheads over the incident.  Were the three dead suspects victims of a rubout? Did the lawmen overreact in killing them?

Anyone who saw the footage of the incident shown by a leading television station would be easily tempted to conclude that there was a rubout. And that seems to be the thinking of Commission on Human Rights chairman Leila de Lima after viewing the newsreel.  However, Public Attorney’s  Office chief Persida Acosta has taken an opposite view, saying she’s convinced the policemen did not break the rules of engagement and that what transpired was a legitimate police operation.

Both protagonists are veteran lawyers.  But when it comes to investigating crime cases of this nature, it appears that Acosta, who has headed her agency for several years, has the edge over De Lima whose specialization was election cases before her appointment to the human rights commission last year.

In accordance with its constitutional mandate to investigate cases of violations of human rights, the five-member commission lost no time in assuming jurisdiction over the sensational case.

Normally, the PAO handles cases of indigent litigants, but perhaps this is the first time that the agency was asked to assist policemen who are accused in criminal complaints. Acosta stepped into the case after Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez signed a department order on Feb. 25 assigning the PAO to render free legal services to members of the Philippine National Police who are facing charges for offenses supposedly committed while performing their official duties.

The video footage captured by an ABS-CBN news team showed some policemen firing their firearms at the suspects insider their car at close range.  Upon seeing the footage, Chairman De Lima was shown exclaiming in the newscast: “Jesus Christ!... This is very disturbing and highly questionable in our viewpoint.”   The CHR chief added: “This is potentially a case of excessive and blatant violation of operational guidelines.  Ano na ang nangyari sa mga human rights education and training namin all these years for the PNP?”

As counsel for the policemen, Acosta sent a petition to the commission asking De Lima to inhibit herself and for the commission to cease and desist from further investigating the incident “due to the apparent bias, partiality and prejudgment displayed” by the CHR head.

“With due respect, it is glaringly apparent that your Honor could not give an objective investigation regarding this incident.  This blatant display of bias and partiality  has put our clients at a grave disadvantage.” Acosta said in a letter to the commission dated March 6.

Acosta said the TV footage should not be relied upon to claim there was a rubout because it was just a segment of the running battle that began in Edsa, Mandaluyong. The operation began at 7 p.m. when elements of the PNP-National Capital Region Highways Patrol Group spotted a blue Honda Civic, with plate no. AED-115 which was verified to be a carnapped vehicle. When they ordered the driver to pull over, the same vehicle sped off towards Quezon City.

This prompted the police to alert the anti-carnapping unit of the Quezon City Police Department. The lawmen then sighted the hot vehicle at the corner of Edsa-New York Avenue. When they tried to intercept the car, it again sped off. The men inside the car fired their guns at the anti-carnapping team members. At the corner of NIA Road-Edsa, the vehicle stopped and the driver quickly alighted and transferred to a backup car.

When operatives of both police groups surrounded the first car, a shootout ensued. During the clearing operations, the team saw that two of the suspects were already dead. The video footage showed a cop in civilian clothes shooting at the third suspect with a sign of life at the front seat of the car. Acosta said the policeman was forced to fire his gun because the car thief was still a threat to them. The team pulled him out of the car and rushed him to the East Avenue Medical Center where he expired. Acosta noted that this was one of the segments of the operation not shown in the ABS-CBN news report.

Dr. Erwin Erfe, forensic consultant of the Public Attorney’s Office, said an autopsy of the suspect who died at hospital, later identified as Rolando Batapa, did not sustain gunshot wounds in the head although a bullet slug was found near his neck.

According to a report of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, a scene of the crime operatives, led by Police Supervising Inspector Liza Rillo, arrived, conducted a technical investigation and recovered from the suspects caliber .38 revolver, a caliber .45 pistol, and caliber .22 magnum.

Acosta said the TV footage was an incomplete documentation of the car chase and should be considered inadmissible in court. “The footage was taken from 20 meters away and from a posterior viewpoint.  Even the cameramen I talked to admitted that they just zoomed the camera in and that they were unable to hear the shouts of the men,” the PAO chief was quoted as saying in a newspaper report.

Further investigation by the police confirmed that the slain suspects had previous crime records. They had either been convicted or facing frustrated murder and carnapping cases. For instance, Batapa was convicted for the frustrated murder of Chester de la Cruz in a decision handed down by Judge Cesar Santamaria of the Regional Trial Court of Makati-Branch 145 on May 15, 2008.

Acosta is also questioning the order of National Police Commission vice chairman Eduardo Escueta to preventively suspend the six members of the anti-carnapping unit of the Quezon City police while they are under investigation for their involvement in the incident. 

She assailed the suspension as unreasonable and harsh for the policemen because this means they will not get any compensation for the duration of the probe. And because of this, she said morale among the anti-carnapping policemen at the QCPD was low which might be taken advantage of by the car thieves.  She asked Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to direct Escueta to inhibit himself from participating in the administrative investigation of the incident being conducted by Napolcom.

The CHR, through Commissioner Cecilia Quisumbing, vowed to complete its probe of the incident and assured everybody that their investigation would be fair and impartial.   It denied criticisms that Chairman De Lima had already prejudged the case.