Eleazar orders probe on bloody Iloilo drug bust
WAS it really a deadly case of a mistaken identity?
Philippine National Police chief General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar on Saturday ordered a thorough investigation on allegations that a man shot dead by local police anti-narcotics agents in Iloilo City was a victim of “mistaken identity.”
Eleazar said he was to determine if there were really operational lapses in the killing of the man whom witnesses have claimed to have been mistaken for by the police as a “fleeing target.”
The PNP chief said that while it has been a protocol that the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) would come in on operations that would result in injuries and deaths particularly of the subject of the operations, the allegation that there was a case of a mistaken identity will be included in the investigation.
“I understand that there is already a motu-proprio investigation on this but with this allegation, I have already tasked the IAS to look into this new information para malinawan tayo,” he said.
The buy-bust operation took place in Bgy. North Baluarte in Molo District in Iloilo City last Tuesday.
Reports alleged that police operatives mistakenly killed 29-year-old Karl Daniel Bolante during the buy-bust operation after the real target, John Dave Mendoza, escaped. The report indicated that Bolante had been mistaken for Mendoza.
Another report however said that members of the Iloilo City Police Office had conducted the buy-bust operation against both Bolante and Mendoza. Bolante was shot and killed after he allegedly acted to hurl a grenade at the policemen pursuing his cohort. Mendoza, it was claimed, was arrested.
Mendoza was identified as street level individual who was previously arrested in a buy bust operation in 2017. He availed the plea-bargaining agreement from court and was released on November 25, 2020.
During the sting, operatives seized two heat-sealed plastic sachets containing an estimated P6,000 worth of suspected shabu, P2,000 worth of buy-bust money, one M26 hand grenade and an unlicensed caliber .38 revolver with five live ammunition.
“Dahil po sa may alegasyon na namang ganito, tayo ay nakikiusap muli sa mga nakakita at kamag-anak ng nasawi na tulungan tayo na mahanap ang katotohanan dito,” Eleazar said.
“Kung kayo ay may alam sa nangyaring ito, nararapat lang na panindigan ang katotohanan sa ngalan ng hustisya. At ako naman ay personal na nangangako ng inyong proteksyon kung meron ngang kamalian na nangyari dito,” added the PNP chief.
