GUILTY!
This was the decision of a court against four members of the Caloocan City police in connection with an antidrug operation during the Duterte administration that led to the death of a man and his teenage son.
In a decision issued on Monday, the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 121 convicted Police Master Sgt. Virgilio Cervantes and Corporals Arnel de Guzman, Johnston Alacre and Artemio Saguros Jr.
They were sentenced to a prison term of six years to 10 years each.
Judge Ma. Rowena Violago Alejandria also ordered them to pay P400,000 each in damages to the family of the victims, Luis Bonifacio and his 19-year-old son Gabriel.
The elder Bonifacio’s widow wanted more officers indicted in the case, noting that a total of 15 officers came to their house in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan, on the night her loved ones were killed.
She went to the Supreme Court to seek the reversal of a resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman that fixed the number of the accused to four. The Supreme Court upheld the Ombudsman’s action and dismissed the widow’s petition in October 2023.
metrosundaily
