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Manila, Philippines – The police officer who shot dead a 52-year-old woman and her 25-year-old son in Paniqui, Tarlac province, on Sunday avoided prosecution for two homicides last year and kept his badge due to lack of evidence and witnesses.
Police General Debold Sinas, chief of the Philippine National Police, said Monday that he was considering an anger management program for all police personnel following the killings involving Police Sergeant Major Jonel Nuezca of the crime lab. of the police of the city of Parañaque.
Nuezca shot and killed her neighbors, as shown in a video that went viral on social media, during a confrontation triggered by the firing of a banned noisemaker on New Year’s Eve by the woman’s son, but also involved a long-standing dispute over the right of way in the neighborhood.
‘Angry and saddened’
At a news conference Monday at Camp Crame, Sinas admitted that when he initially saw video of Nuezca shooting Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony Gregorio, he was “angry and saddened that our police officers committed such a crime.”
He said that according to Nuezca records compiled by Central Luzon police, the officer was investigated twice by the Internal Affairs Service for serious misconduct involving two homicides on May 9 and December 29 last year.
“All of these were dismissed for lack of evidence and witnesses to carry out the administrative cases. So, more or less, no criminal case was filed against him, ”Sinas said.
It noted that Nuezca was also charged administratively with gross misconduct in 2013, less serious negligence of duty for failing to submit to drug testing in 2014, and gross negligence of duty for failing to appear as a prosecution witness in a drug case in 2016.
Sinas said the most Nuezca got was a 31-day suspension for avoiding the drug test because the other two less serious crimes were “dropped and closed.”
But for “this new case,” Sinas said, “the evidence against him is very strong, so he was immediately detained, disarmed, and issued an automatic license so that his salary is automatically reduced.”
Nuezca surrendered to the Paniqui police on Monday, whom the PNP chief called “showing character” as he was willing to face the penalty for the crime he committed while his anger dissipated. He faces double murder charges.
Anger control
“We are now consulting with our neuropsychiatric physicians here at Camp Crame to determine the effect … So we are trying to study why it happened so suddenly,” Sinas said.
“We could also have a study on the anger management of our people,” he added.
Sinas also said he was dissuading people from taking crime videos or photos as it could put them at risk.
He said that people should not post photos or videos of crimes on social media, but should send them to the police as evidence. –WITH REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO INQ
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