This developed after members of the CDCPSD including its manager, CDC-VP for Security Services Ricardo C. Banayat, allegedly failed to submit to a proper investigation after figuring in the alleged firefight where PO1 Jomar Batul was fatally shot.
“We’re just waiting for the result of the investigation which would be our basis in filing the complaints against the suspects in the Batul gun slay,” Central Luzon police director Chief Supt. Rudy Lacadin said even as he ordered a background check on the alleged victim.
The alleged suspects were identified as Banayat, a retired general of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), CDC police Jake Machinal, Royal Security guard Wilson Laza and two John Does who allegedly engaged Batul in the said firefight.
Police investigators said Machinal and Laza showed up at the PNP Station 4 here shortly after the incident but left moments later.
“Although the suspects have the right to decline any invitation from our investigators,” Lacadin said, “they still have to face and answer so many questions including the public perception of what had happened on that fateful day.”
Lacadin assured that the PNP will not hesitate to file murder charges against the alleged suspects, “in case we find out that the gun slay smells of a rubout.”
There were reports that the suspects in Batul’s death declined to undergo laboratory tests upon the instruction of the CDC Legal Department.
Meanwhile, the autopsy report of Batul has not been released two weeks after he was gunned down at the mall parking lot here.
Chief investigator SPO4 Romeo Amarillo said they have requested a copy of the report last week but up to now it has not been released by the PNP Crime Laboratory.
Amarillo said the brother of the slain cop is the one following up on the case.
A CDC report indicating that Batul has in his possession drug paraphernalia (tooter and aluminum foil) and an empty plastic sachet (believed to have contained shabu) during the alleged firefight with the CDC police has been confirmed by police investigators.
But PNP Station 4 commander, Chief Inspector Dederick Relativo, clarified that the personal effects of Batul including his PNP identification card and the drug paraphernalia were only turned over to them by the CDC police at around 9 pm on Dec. 24 or some five hours after the incident.
A source close to the investigation said Batul’s bag, which contained his personal effects, was allegedly in the possession of the CDC police before it was turned over to police investigators.
However, Batul’s firearm remains missing. Batul was shot at the parking lot of SM City- Clark on December 24.
The CDC police claimed that Batul allegedly tried to steal a motorcycle parked in front of Jollibee restaurant at the BertaPhil area of the Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ) before commandeering a passing L-300 van of the Murakeni Catering Services.
Relativo said the persons of interest involved were summoned for further investigation, but they declined allegedly upon the advised of the CDC Legal Department.
“I included in my report that they refused to heed the summons,” he said. Batul was detailed at the Provincial Public Safety Battalion of the Oriental Mindoro PNP and a resident of Josefa Street, Caloocan City.
CDC security personnel claimed that Batul was armed and that they were forced to shoot back after he fired at them first.
Based on the “spot report,” Batul suffered two gunshot wounds on his head, one on his right shoulder, one on his left arm and one on his foot. He died two hours after he was brought to the Ospital Ning Angeles.
