THE Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Monday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership to issue an order against killing a person who was already kneeling and pleading for mercy.

Interviewed by The Manila Times, PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta lamented that such unfortunate incidents continue to occur although she opted not to expound, saying there were relatives who were afraid to come out for fear of their lives.

She pointed at the case of teenagers Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo “Kulot” de Guzman whose arresting lawmen — POI Jeffrey Perez and PO1 Ricky Arquilita — were both found guilty by a Caloocan trial court judge for planting evidence and torturing them before they died.

“This is the first case of torture that the PAO has won, of course, with the team-up of our public attorneys and prosecutors,” the chief public attorney said.

She then pressed the PNP officials to do something to help erase the bad image of police brutality.

“The PNP must have a marching order that if a person they are arresting was already kneeling that showed surrendering, he must be spared and not shot and killed. They must have mercy,” Rueda-Acosta said.

It would be a different story if the person being arrested is resisting and threatening the lives of the arresting lawmen.

“If that’s the situation, it’s normal that the lawmen must fight back, unlike the case of Arnaiz who was already kneeling to show that he was surrendering, but he was still shot and killed. There was an eyewitness whose testimony convinced the judge to find them guilty,” the PAO chief said.

The Manila Times tried to reach the family of the two teenagers to ask for their comment about the ruling handed out last week by Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 122 Judge Rodrigo Pascua Jr., but they preferred not to issue a statement.

“But, of course, they were very happy that their children had finally found justice, and they were thankful, too, to our public lawyers as well as prosecutors and more importantly, to the lone eyewitness, Arnold Perlada,” she said.

The RTC judge sentenced Perez to two life terms plus reclusion perpetua (another 20 to 40 years) for the duo’s killing, which took place at the peak of the anti-drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.

In handing the verdict, Pascua gave more weight to the testimony of Perlada along with the findings of Dr. Erwin Erfe, PAO Forensics Division chief, in convicting Perez of violating the Anti-Torture Act of 2010 and violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act and the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for the planting of evidence.

Perez and Arquilita claimed that Arnaiz was killed in a shooting incident during a legitimate antiillegal drug operation.

Arquilita died during the pendency of the trial of the case.

Perlada said that on Aug. 17, 2017, he and a friend came from a party on Taksay Street in Caloocan when he witnessed the killing of Arnaiz.

He told the court that he saw the policemen bringing Arnaiz out of a parked police car and ordered him to kneel on a grassy area.

While holding up his bound wrists and shouting that he was surrendering, Arnaiz was still shot, three times, Perlada said.

He likewise testified that he saw another young boy inside the police car that night, who is believed to be de Guzman, a friend of Arnaiz.

Arnaiz and de Guzman went missing from their residence in Cainta, Rizal, and their bodies were found on Sept. 5, 2017, in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.

The court was convinced by the forensic examination conducted by Erfe on Arnaiz’s body that showed he was kneeling when he was shot several times in the chest.

With Arnaiz’s swollen wrists, handcuff marks and bruised eyes, there was no doubt that he was tortured before he was killed, the court said.