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| Hansel Marantan Corrupt cop who last shot FX at arm's length |
After the police (dressed in civilian clothes, some in slippers, some armed with military-grade firearms, all of them driving in unmarked vehicles) had wrapped their targeted sedan with bullets, they approached the sedan on foot, fired another round at its passengers, then planted guns and stolen license plates in the trunk to create false evidence to match their story to the public. Unlike the other shootout incidents they've claimed, this one would not fool the Filipinos because, unbeknownst to the cops, a camera caught them in the act of their corruption.
Hansel Marantan was the guy who approached the passenger-side backdoor and found FX tightly crouched on the floor, behind the passenger front seat. Marantan saw FX was still and obviously hurt from the gunshots fired. Instead of checking to see if FX was still alive, so the cops can later question him, Hansel Marantan shot FX at close range to kill him. Marantan fired the last shots to make sure everyone in the car was dead.
It was obvious that Marantan had no intention to arrest but to kill. Who gave him this order? Who gave him the confidence that he wouldn't suffer the consequence for this murder and injustice? Who gave him a promotion for being a corrupt cop? Who else are his victims? Who is he kidding?!
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Today from "The Manila Times":
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/top-stories/38950-from-valle-verde-boys-to-atimonan-13-death-hounds-marantan
From Valle Verde Boys To Atimonan 13: Death Hounds Marantan Written by Belly Otordoz, Catherine S. Valente, Anthony Vargas, Jefferson Antiporda And William B. Depasupil
On November 7, 2005, Francis Xavier Manzano, Anton Cu-Unjieng and Brian Anthony Dulay—members of the so-called Valle Verde Boys—were killed in an alleged shootout when they refused to
stop at a checkpoint laid out by members of the Philippine National Police-Traffic Management Group, led by a young officer named Senior Insp. Hansel Marantan.
The suspects were in a maroon Nissan Exalta in Ortigas District in Pasig City when they were waylaid by Marantan’s group. An alert UNTV crew took footages of the incident and showed them on national television.
The images of the already dead suspects being shot at repeatedly by the policemen prompted their relatives to declare a rubout.
Marantan and his boys were charged with three counts of homicide by the Office of the Ombudsman but the families petitioned the Supreme Court to elevate the crime to multiple murder.
Last week, Marantan, who has been promoted to superintendent, found himself in a similar predicament at a checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon where 13 men—including a policeman of equal rank and four other law enforcers—died. Marantan was shot at least twice.
Bloody trail
The Valle Verde Boys and the “Atimonan 13” were among the many victims of shootouts where Marantan was involved.
Reports said that Marantan had killed at least 34 people in less than a decade.
Marantan, who is still recuperating at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City for his wounds, had established a pattern in getting himself involved in shootouts.
On February 8, 2010 when he was the group commander of 415th Provincial Police Mobile Group based in Barangay Taguan in Candelaria, Quezon, eight suspected members of a kidnap group were killed along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay Bukal Sur.
It was practically the same story: the suspects did not stop when flagged down and opened fire on the police, forcing them to retaliate, killing all the passengers of the Toyota Hi-Ace van.
The slain men had allegedly conducted illegal activities in Pampanga province and also ignored the first police checkpoint in Barangay Lalig in Tiaong, Quezon.
On April 18, 2012, four suspected car thieves were killed in what the authorities said was a shootout with policemen conducting a checkpoint on the Maharlika Highway diversion road. Senior Supt.
Valeriano de Leon, Quezon police director, said that three of the still unidentified men died on the
spot, while the fourth was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.
The four were on a red Toyota Innova without license plates that drove through the checkpoint barrier and signage in Barangay Gulang Gulang at about 2:20 a.m. The vehicle was traveling south.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Supt. Ramon Balauag, then the chief of police of Lucena City. However, the operation was said to have been based on information from Marantan.
Balauag, now the chief of the Intelligence Section of the Quezon Provincial Police Office, worked with Marantan in the Atimonan shootout.
On November 12, 2012 in Calamba, policemen killed six suspected criminals, believed to be also involved in the ambush-slay of a police officer the previous month.
The fatalities had been under police surveillance based on reports that they were behind a series of hijacking and robberies in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region.
Senior Supt. Fausto Manzanilla, Laguna police director, said that the six were guns-for-hire.
Manzanilla said that six were on board a bronze Toyota Innova van, while two were on a blue pick-up truck.
The lawmen flagged down the Innova at about 8:30 a.m. in Barangay Lecheria but its passengers opened fire, Manzanilla said. An exchange of gunfire ensued, he added.
All the men in the Innova van were killed. Marantan at that time was the intelligence chief of PNP-Calabarzon.
No whitewash
On Tuesday, Malacañang pledged that there will be no whitewash in the ongoing investigation being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the Quezon shootout.
Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that President was intently monitoring the investigation.
Although the President did not specify a timetable as to when the investigation should be concluded,
Lacierda said that Mr. Aquino wants a full and exhaustive investigation into the incident.
Laciera added that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has also directed the NBI Death Investigation Division to conduct a parallel probe.
Of the 13 killed in the shootout, three were police personnel: Police Supt. Alfredo Perez Consemino of Purok 3 EM’s Barrio Camp Vicente Lim, Calamba City; Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Valdez of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro province, and Senior Police Officer 1 Gruet Mantuano of Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro province, and one was a soldier, Staff Sergeant Armando Lescano, of 407 Lt. Ano Street, Fernando Air Base, Lipa City.
Five were identified as residents of Barangay Maunong, Calamba City: Leonardo Marasigan, Conrado Decillo, Victorino Atienza Jr., Jerry Siman and Victor Siman.
Three others were Tirso Lontoc Jr. of Barangay Sta. Lucia in Dolores, Quezon; Jimbeam Dyico Justiniani of Quezon City and Paul Arcedillo Quiohilag of Biñan, Laguna.
Police sources said that another slain suspect used two names through the identity cards bearing one Victor Gonzales of Candaba, Pampanga and Maximo Pelayo of Tigaon, Camarines Sur.
Legitimate
Despite claims of a rubout, Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr., PNP spokesman, maintained that the shootout was a legitimate operation by police units in the area.
“The instruction was to be thorough and proper in the investigation and we also want to find out if there had been any breach of procedure or if there were criminal acts committed in the encounter,” Cerbo said. “We have to establish whether there was a rub-out or a shoot-out . . . what we know at the moment that the fact that there were at least 13 people were killed and one was wounded.”
Nevertheless, the PNP spokesman said that the task of the fact-finding team created was to find out if the rules of engagement in encounter and checkpoints were followed and if the incident has links with jueteng dispute in the area.
Benefit of the doubt
Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson came to the defense of the police officers who took part on the firefight.
Lacson appealed to the public and media to give the police officers all the benefit of the doubt and just wait for the result of the ongoing investigations being conducted by different government agencies.
“As far as I know, the Atimonan incident was a long running intelligence project of PRO 4-A [Police Region Office IV-A], which involved human as well as signal or technical intelligence among other operational efforts,” Lacson told reporters.
Senate probe
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd expressed willingness to conduct a separate investigation on the incident in case the agencies tasked to conduct the probe will not be able to come up with a satisfying result.
He, however, made it clear that he will leave the investigation to the National Police, the Investigation bureau, as well as the Commission on Human Rights.
“If they won’t do it or don’t do a serious investigation, then I’ll be forced to ask the Senate to investigate this incident,” Pimentel said.
Hands-off
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, meanwhile, has kept a hands-off policy on the controversial alleged shootout.
Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., military spokesman on Tuesday also denied reports that one of the fatalities was a member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp).
Burgos said that the Isafp card recovered from one of the victims was fake because the military unit has long stopped issuing identification cards to its agents.
