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CEBU CITY, Philippines ? Cebu City police officials Monday welcomed the move of the family of a slain policeman from Talisay City to ask the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to re-investigate the case.
?It's the right of the family to seek re-investigation of the case,? said Senior Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador Jr., chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
But he said they had done their part when they filed the criminal case against Police Officer 1 Mark Anthony Manlosa, a tourist policeman assigned at the CCPO, for killing Police Officer 1 Calvin Dinampo on Christmas Eve last year in Barangay (village) Tisa, Cebu City.
Family of Dinampo asked the NBI to take another look at the case after the CCPO merely filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide against Manlosa, who was released after posting P10,000 for his temporary liberty.
Comendador said that since the case is already with the prosecutor's office, it will be up to the prosecutors to decide whether or not to grant the request for reinvestigation.
Comendador said he wondered why it took Dinampo's relatives only now to seek reinvestigation when it was a high-profile case.
Homicide investigator Jay Yballe said they were willing to face probe by the NBI.
Paraffin test on the hands of both the victim and the assailant showed that Dinampo was found positive of gun powder residue. Manlosa's hand, however, was found negative of gun powder residue.
Yballe said the result of the paraffin test was not conclusive.
The guns used by both the victim and the suspect may have affected the results of the paraffin test.
Manlosa used a revolver when he shot Dinampo, while the latter was armed with a pistol.
Another factor was wind direction when the gun was fired, said Yballe.
Manlosa, 31, was accused of shooting Dinampo when the latter allegedly took hostage a firecracker vendor about 7:30 p.m. on December 24.
Dinampo, 32, suffered five gunshot wounds in his chest, pelvic area and upper portion of his left leg. He was first brought to the Miller Hospital but he was transferred to Cebu Doctors University Hospital where he died at 12:30 a.m. on Christmas Day.
Police said Manlosa was riding his motorcycle with Belben Famador, a neighbor, on his way home to San Jose Village in Tisa.
When he passed by Silver Street in Tisa about 7:30 p.m., Manlosa saw a man holding a 9mm pistol.
The man turned out to be Dinampo, a policeman assigned at the beat patrol section of the Talisay City police station, who was off-duty at that time. /Correspondent Chito O. Aragon
