MUSLIM communities are one with the Philippine National Police in condemning an incident in Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday last week in which five Islam followers, two of them policemen were accused of killing a police captain who belongs to the Catholic faith.

PNP spokesperson, Colonel Jean S. Fajardo said they are pretty sure that Muslims in Mindanao are condemning the uncalled for action by two of their fellows who were charged in connection with the murder of Captain Roland Arnold S. Moralde.

The PNP official called on everybody to refrain from making any generalization or ‘profiling’ in the case of the slain officer as the PNP leadership maintained that everybody must treat every other religion with the same respect regardless of their beliefs.

The PNP has maintained that it will always uphold the rule of law in all its actions and will always respect the person’s rights regardless of religion, culture and origin and thus, won’t resort to maligning the reputation of any particular religious organization just because a few of their members have broken the law.

“Uncalled for ang action ng dalawang policemen na involved and I’m pretty sure na ang Muslim community is condemning their act,” said Col. Fajardo as she announced that the two accused have been ordered placed under restrictive custody by their superiors at the Bangsamoro Administrative Region-Police Regional Office Office last May 10.

She was referring to the murder respondents identified as Police Master Sergeant Aladdin Ramalan and Shariff Balading who were ordered released immediately from the Parang

Municipal Police Station Jail last May 7 by the Maguindanao del Norte prosecutor’s office unless they are being detained for other lawful causes.

According to Col. Fajardo, both Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. and PNP chief, General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil have ordered the PRO-BAR to thoroughly study the case and see to it that all legal remedies will be undertaken to bring justice to the slain police captain.

The PRO-BAR headed by Brigadier Gen. Prexy D. Tanggawohn has already submitted its position paper to the local prosecutor’s office amid its decision to release the two.

Col. Fajardo said the prosecutor’s office issued a resolution ordering the release of the two accused saying that the complaint-affidavit does not contain necessary evidence to prove the essential elements of murder.

However, she said that it was very clear in recovered CCTV recordings that the hapless officer was shot to death by the suspects, a copy of the extracted CCTV footage also submitted to the prosecutor’s office as part of the evidence.

“This will suffice and constitute prima face evidence to prove that what happened to Moralde is murder. Hopefully, ma-aapreciate ng prosecutor’s office ito,” she said

Col. Fajardo said that Brig. Gen. Tanggawohn has also sought the assistance of the PNP Legal Service in studying the possibility of transferring the case outside of BARMM. This is amid reports that the accused are related with local politicians and prosecutors.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon