The Department of Justice’s Administrative Order (AO) 25 Special Investigating Team has recommended the filing of charges for murder against law enforcers involved in the death of labor leader Emmanuel “Manny” Asuncion
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the disclosure as the National Bureau of Investigation is wrapping up its interviews of witnesses for the death of fisherfolk couple Chai and Ariel Evangelista of the Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Pagwawasak ng Kalikasan at Kalupaan (UMALPAS KA) the couple was also among the nine killed during the “bloody Sunday” operation in Region IV.
Asuncion was among the nine activists killed during last March 7’s simultaneous police-military operations in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal provinces, now known as “Bloody Sunday.”
“In the case of the death of Emmanuel Asuncion, the AO 35 SIT has recommended the filing of murder charges against certain law enforcement agents involved in the incident,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said, in a text message to reporters.
The SIT created under Administrative Order No.35 issued in 2013 to investigate extrajudicial and politically motivated killings as well as human rights violations in the country.
The members of the task force are the DOJ – as the lead agency- the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.
In the case of the Evangelista couple, the SIT report will be out in about two weeks, Guevarra said.
The joint military and police operation last March was carried out based on Metro Manila court’s search warrants. Authorities claimed that the nine fought back and were killed.
However, an examination conducted by the UP College of Medicine last July found out that the activists were “really shot to be killed.” The bodies of the victims were examined at the request of the relatives and the human rights advocates.
“All of them have shots in the chest. They were really shot to be killed,” Dr. Raquel Fortun, a forensic pathologist from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine said at a press conference.