dossiermanila

A streetpost in Multinational Village in Paranaque stands as silent witness. On the nearby vacant lot along this street twenty years ago, two Filipino-Chinese businessmen were summarily executed by four policemen. This week the Supreme Court convicted the third of the four lawmen.

SC UPHOLDS RECLUSION PERPETUA FOR TWO PARANAQUE COPS IN MURDER OF BUSINESSMEN

MANILA --Two Paranaque policemen who shot to death two Chinese businessmen in Paranaque City twenty years ago will be spending the rest of their lives behind bars after they lost their appeal before the Supreme Court.

In a 31-page decision by Associate Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna,the SC First Division upheld the decision of the Sandiganbayan Anti-Graft Court finding Paranaque City Police Patrolmen Edgardo Herrera and Redentor Mariano guilty beyond reasonable doubt of murder.

The two along with two others, Patrolmen Roberto Barrera and Rodolfo Alcalde killed two businessmen, George Go and Shi Shu Yang on Decemberr 28,1989.

Go and Yang who owned the now defunct Chow Chow Restaurant apparently drew the ire of the policemen after the victims gave the lawmen twenty pesos and two shirts when the policemen solicited money from them for Christmas.

The four confronted Go and Yang in the latter's business, beat them up and confiscated a licensed .45 caliber pistol belonging to the victims. The gun was later discovered in the office of another policeman with its etched serial number tampered.

The suspects' crime was uncovered after the lawmen were positively identified by a female foreigner living in a house near the vacant lot in Timothy St. in Multinational Village also in Paranaque where Go and Yang were killed in cold blood.

While the cases against them was pending Barrera and Alcalde jumped bail but Barrera was subsequently arrested and convicted for the killings.

In the latest SC decision against their conspirators Mariano and Herrera , the high court ruled their claim of self-defense is untenable. The policemen had argued that while being transported, the two Chinese businessmen tried to grab their service assault rifle and resulted in the accidental firing and the deaths.

"Considering that both victims were handcuffed and unarmed, and therefore, had restricted movements, it could only mean that the perceived threats to petitioners' lives were not sufficiently serious, in which case they were not justified in shooting the hapless victims who were unarmed."the SC ruled otherwise.

"Petitioners (policemen) could have simply subdued the two victims in a manner as to engage them in a fight without necessarily killing them." the high court ruled.

Concurring were Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno and Associate Justices Antoniot T. Carpio,Renato C. Corona an Teresita Leonardo-De Castro.

Aside from sentencing them to reclusion perpetua, the SC also ordered the lawmen to pay P 1.6 million in damages,indemnity and unrealized earning and income.