AT least 16 cops, including the Rizal Provincial Police Office director and the Cainta police chief, were relieved amid the serious questions raised on the ambush-slaying of Richard Santillan, trusted aide and bodyguard of former Biliran congressman and election lawyer Glenn Chong.
Chong, who is seeking a Senate seat in 2019, had been the chief critic of the PCOS system and electoral reform advocate. He earlier aired the theory that he was the target of a liquidation squad that peppered with 30 bullets the sport-utility vehicle he lent to Santillan as the latter came home from a charity event for poor children.
Relieved of their posts were Rizal provincial police director Senior Supt. Lou Evangelista, Cainta police chief Supt. Pablito Naganag, 10 members of the Calabarzon Regional Intelligence Group and four other policemen from the Cainta police.
“I have issued the relief of the Provincial Director of Rizal, I have ordered the relief of the chief of police of Cainta. I also talked with the Highway Patrol Group for the relief of the Highway Patrol Unit team of Rizal,” said Region 4A police director Chief Supt. Edward Caranza.
He said that all other policemen involved in the operation that resulted in the death of Santillan were also relieved of their posts.
Caranza said his order for the relief of the policemen was administrative in nature, and this is pending the official results of the investigation into Santillan’s death.
The Rizal Provincial Police Office earlier reported that Chong’s bodyguard had engaged policemen in a shootout at Barangay San Andres at around 1 a.m. on Monday. A woman, who was with the victim, also died during the operation.
The report claimed that Santillan ignored policemen who tried to stop him and sped away with the Toyota Fortuner (NOF-805) that he was driving which was first spotted along Eastbank Road, Cambridge Village, Cainta.
The vehicle does not have a validation sticker and verification showed it was last registered in 2015, police claimed.
Chong, who doubted the police’s report of a shootout, admitted that he owns the vehicle and Santillan was in Cainta for a gift-giving activity for the poor.
Despite his relief of the 16 policemen, Caranza stood by the report of the Cainta police that what happened was a legitimate police operation. “We are not saying that our police was wrong. What we are saying is that there may be excessive force,” he said.
Based on the police report, Santillan was involved in carnapping activities and in selling illegal drugs.
The Cainta police said that some 60 grams of shabu were recovered from Santillan during the shootout, a claim that Chong had also cast doubt on.