The ballistics examination and crossmatching on the slugs recovered from the bodies of 16-year-old Jhondie Maglinte Helis and Antonio Dalit led to the identification of the policemen who fired the shots that killed the two suspected drug pushers during the June 16 anti-drugs operation in Biñan City in Laguna.

According to Calabarzon Regional Police Director BGen. Eliseo Cruz, the results of the investigation by the fact-finding team are proof the police organization is serious in finding out the truth behind the incident.

The Regional Crime Laboratory Office reported the slugs taken from the cadaver of Helis matched with a cal. 45 gun submitted by one of the operatives with a rank of police senior master sergeant.

The report also stated a .45 pistol owned by police commissioned officer also matched a bullet recovered from Dalit’s body.

A total of 11 firearms were submitted for ballistics examinations and crossmatching.

Helis and Dalit each suffered two gunshot wounds based on the autopsy report. Both tested positive for gunpowder nitrates during paraffin tests on their bodies.

On June 16, the family of Helis claimed he was handcuffed and shot after witnessing the killing of Dalit.

Police operatives, however, said Dalit and Helis were killed in an exchange of gunfire.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, however, said while the identities of the policemen were already established, the missing part is determining whether or not there was an exchange of gunfire between the police operatives and the two slain subjects.

Another primary focus of the investigation is the allegation Helis was handcuffed at the time he was shot.

“There’s a presumption of regularity in the conduct of this operation unless there are witnesses who could corroborate there was no exchange of gunfire and Helis was already handcuffed when he was repeatedly shot as claimed by the relatives,” said Eleazar.

The PNP chief said no witnesses have surfaced so far to substantiate the allegations.

“Our Internal Affairs Service investigators went to the house of the relatives to console their families and to ask for their statements of the incident, together with witnesses but they refused,” Eleazar said, quoting a report of Inspector Gen. Alfegar Triambulo of the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service.