MANILA, Philippines - Three police officers have been charged with murder in connection with the killing of a pedicab driver who pleaded for his life during a drug sting in August last year.

The National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) death investigation division (DID) filed last month murder charges against Police Officers 1 Melford Velasco Olorisisimo, Benigno Galos Baladjay and Jan Erwin Santiago Isaac, The STAR learned yesterday.

The city prosecutor’s office has yet to set preliminary investigation hearings.

Pedicab driver Eric Sison, 22, died from 14 gunshot wounds, the NBI said. Ten of the wounds were on his right side, with the rest on his left.

“Most of the gunshot wounds, however, have an upward trajectory, giving the impression that the victim was shot while running up the stairs of his residence and while defenselessly lying down hiding under the mattress,” according to the NBI report.

The bureau reported that “eight fired cartridges and two jacketed slugs” came from Olorisisimo’s government-issued firearm.

Told to run

Prior to the shooting, Sison and four other men were having a drinking session near the Tripa de Gallina along F. Muñoz street in the wee hours of Aug. 23 last year.

The three police officers arrived in a patrol car and approached Sison. One of them placed his arm around Sison’s neck, whispered something and told him to run, the NBI said.

Sison was heard shouting “Huwag po, huwag po (Don’t, don’t)!” while running.

The police officer still shot Sison, who limped toward his house.

The lawmen continued to chase the victim, who was able to reach the third floor of his home but jumped to the roof of a neighbor’s house and hid under a bed.

While Sison was in the neighbor’s house, the police officers ordered its occupants to go outside.

Two gunshots were heard, but after the second shot Sison was heard shouting, “Heto po, heto po, susuko na po (Here I am, here I am, I will surrender)!” Several more gunshots were heard after Sison shouted.

Plot unraveled

The NBI said the lawmen reported recovering a revolver and drugs from Sison’s person, but the bureau believes these “were part and parcel of the policemen’s plot to justify their ‘tokhang’ operation.”

The police officers, according to the NBI, placed the revolver in Sison’s lifeless hands and fired it to “leave gunpowder residue on the hands of the victim.”

Witnesses, including Sison’s neighbors, gave their statements and a mobile phone video of the incident to the NBI.

The bureau reported that Sison’s killing is one of the incidents in which police officers abused the Philippine National Police’s anti-drug campaign, Oplan Tokhang, by acting as “the arresting officers, prosecutors and finally the judge.”

The Pasay police reported that Sison was killed when he resisted arrest and that dried marijuana and a revolver were recovered from him.

Sison’s partner, Rachelle Bermoy, filed a complaint with the NBI, saying he never resisted arrest.

The three police officers and Senior Inspector Oscar Pagulayan Jr. of the Tramo community precinct were later relieved from their posts.