THE sad case of seven Philippine National Police Special Action Force troopers who found themselves in jail 14 years after figuring in an encounter with heavily-armed New People’s Army rebels in Rodriguez, Rizal has prompted the SAF leadership to incorporate basic responders and crime scene processing courses on their commando students, the Journal Group learned yesterday.

“It’s lessons learned and thus, I have decided to make some changes, some upgrading in our commando training and this time, we will include basic investigation and 1st responders’ training to our students,” said PNP-SAF director Major General Bernard M. Banac.

The idea is to ensure that SAF troopers will be able to undertake the required procedure in an encounter scene specifically the processing of evidence recovered at the site.

“We have to fully document the crime scene and properly turn it over including all gathered pieces of evidence to the concerned municipal police station in the absence of SOCO teams,” the former PNP spokesperson said.

Maj. Gen. Banac said this time, he doesn’t want his men to just leave a scene of a gunbattle without helping process the scene when SOCO teams from the PNP Forensic Group cannot immediately reach the site.

He cited an incident in Bukidnon in the early 2000 when a PNP-SAF internal security operation was used by the enemies to portray a ‘very bad image’ of the police.

It turned out that after the operation, SAF commandos did not take pictures and videos of the site and instead merely left the area after having recovered all pieces of evidence left by the guerrillas.

“By failing to conduct the proper procedure, the rebels managed to portray the SAF troopers as the ‘enemy of the people’ when residents of local indigenous people were torched and they made it appear that it was the SAF who burned the houses,” said the official.

Maj. Gen. Banac said he doesn’t want those incidents to happen again simply because there was no basic processing of the site including taking of video and photographs.

“This time, our SAF troopers should be able to conduct 1st responder procedure, process the crime scene and properly turn over all recovered pieces of evidence for the required chain of evidence.

Kung nado-document ng tama ang encounter scene or any crime scene before pulling out, we leave no opportunity for our enemies and detractors to paint a bad picture of the SAF since we will be able to present all the evidence in court,” he said.

He said that the case of the seven SAF troopers who were charged in court after that counter-insurgency operation in Rizal in 2010 is also another case in point.

“Yung sa Rizal, umalis ang tropa sa scene without doing the basic kasi hindi kasama sa training nila yun. This time, kasama na sa training ng commandos yung basic investigation and 1st responders procedure. I told my men don’t expect SOCO ng municipality na pupunta sa site lalo na sa mga napakalayo at mapanganib na lugar. Kayo na mismo ang magprocess ng crime scene and we treat the incident area as crime scene,” Maj. Gen. Banac said.

With this, PNP-SAF teams assigned to any operation in far-flung areas will be equipped with police lines and evidence bags where they will keep recovered pieces of evidence such as laptop computers, mobile phones and weapons and ammunition.

“Yung mga marerecover na laptops and cellphones puwedeng magamit for evidentiary purpose pero hindi mapresent as court evidence dahil hindi tama yung processing. Kaya we have to make some changes since we are putting priority on our legal offensive against enemies of the state thru the filing of cases in court,” Maj. Gen. Banac said.

The official maintained that it is already -high-time’ for SAF commandos to be also well-versed in investigation and basic crime scene procedures.

“It’s the basic procedure on how to respond, secure the crime scene and place police lines in the area. Dapat me camera or any alternative recording devices, evidence bags, pentel pens for marking of firearms and other pieces of evidence that can be used as material evidence in prosecution,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Banac believe that SAF troopers already have the skills of an Army Scout Ranger or Special Forces and a Marine Recon. “But we have to have an added value. We are more than those tactical units. We are investigators so we can file charges that will stick in court. That could be done by our commandos if they are training on 1st responder and basic investigation courses, on how to conduct initial processing of evidence para yung chain of custody, pag binigay sa SOCO eh mapoprocess ng Crime Lab ng tama dahil tama ang handling ng evidence,” he said.

The PNP leadership headed by General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. earlier vowed full support for seven SAF troopers who were charged for the killing of two suspected New People’s Army rebels during a fierce gunbattle in Rodriguez, Rizal in 2010 and were ordered arrested by a local court 14 years later.

Lawyers from the PNP Legal Service have been tasked by Gen. Acorda to provide legal assistance to the seven who were all still Police Non-Commissioned Officers when they were charged with two counts of murder following the death of two suspected NPA members during an encounter in Sitio Lagyo in Barangay Puray in Rodriguez, Rizal.

Maj. Gen .Banac said that Gen. Acorda has vowed to provide full financial support to the seven who were charged in the line of duty. “Our first objective is to help the seven post bail for their temporary liberty,” said Maj. Gen. Banac.

PNP lawyers are also seeking the transfer of the seven identified as Captains Justin Annogue, Orlando Rosales Jr. and Guilbert Asuncion; Police Chief Master Sergeants Israel Lucob and Joseph Chumawar; Police Staff Sgt. Quill Bay-an and Police MSgt. Dante Baloran to the PNP Custodial Service.

The accused were earlier placed under the custody of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group after they surrendered to officials to face the criminal charges against them.

The seven were the subject of a warrant of arrest for two counts of murder issued by Judge Clarissa Dao of the San Mateo, Rizal Regional Trial Court Branch 174.

The warrant stemmed from the killing of the two suspected NPA members during an encounter with PNP-SAF troopers in Bgy. Puray in Rodriguez, Rizal 14 years ago. The accused ere all members of the SAF’s Rapid Deployment Battalion when they encountered the heavily-armed NPA guerrillas in 2010.

The three police captains were still Police Officers 1 when they got involved in the legitimate PNP-SAF counter-insurgency operation in Rizal province in 2010. During those years, Rizal is known for having a considerable presence of NPA rebels.