General resigns over Manila execution row
General resigns over Manila execution row
MANILA (Reuter): A controversial Philippine police general in
charge of a presidential anti-crime task force said yesterday he
would quit his job over accusations that police killed 11
suspected bank robbers in cold blood.
Gen. Panfilo Lacson told a Senate committee investigating the
case he is resigning after charges were filed on Thursday against
him, two other police generals and six other officers.
"I'm filing my letter of resignation," Lacson said.
"Certain circumstances have already put me in a bind because
there is already a referral to the Ombudsman where I am referred
to as a suspect in the case," he said.
The others facing charges include generals Jewel Canson and
Romeo Acop, two colonels, three majors and a lieutenant. Canson
and Acop resigned their posts as senior officers in the capital
on Thursday.
National Police Director-General Recaredo Sarmiento accepted
their resignations from their positions. The officers will remain
in the police force but will not be given any positions until the
charges against them are resolved.
Lacson corroborated the report of two other police generals
that 11 suspects were killed during a gunfight with police while
they were fleeing in two vans.
Asked if the report is an accurate narration of what happened,
Lacson said: "I invoke my right under the constitution to remain
silent."
Two sergeants involved in the May 18 operation said the
suspects were shot in cold blood while in handcuffs. A police
forensic report said 10 of the 11 tested negative for nitrates,
indicating they had not fired weapons at the time they were
killed.
Canson heads the national capital regional police command
while Acop is chief of the police criminal investigation service.
Lacson commands a strike force of the Presidential Anti-Crime
Commission (PACC) formed to battle crime syndicates.
A police panel said on Thursday there is enough evidence to
warrant sending the case to the courts for trial. The panel said
it was investigating the involvement of other officers in the
case.
President Fidel Ramos, whose government is under fire over the
killings, has clipped the powers of the PACC.
Ramos released guidelines to turn the PACC into a mere agency
to coordinate anti-crime operations, Justice Secretary Teofisto
Guingona said on Thursday.
Under the guidelines, the PACC's anti-kidnapping and anti-
robbery strike forces would be disbanded, Guingona said. He said
he was meeting with PACC to discuss implementation of the
guidelines.