BY JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
The battle over the custody of the body of slain National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randy Echanis ended Wednesday morning after a fingerprint matching confirmed his identity.
Echanis’ wife, Erlina, said in an interview with reporters that a fingerprint cross-matching yielded a “positive” result.
“Mula sa araw na ito ay mapaglalamayan na namin at makakasama na namin [sya] sa kanyang mga huling sandali,” Erlinda said.
Nadja de Vera, Echanis’ niece, also said the police have already informed their lawyers about the result although “they have not yet released the official result.”
“Yun na lang ang kailangan para makuha na namin ang body,” De Vera added. Echanis’ body will then be taken to the Philippine General Hospital for autopsy.
Asked for confirmation, Lt. Johanna Sazon, chief of the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) public information office (PIO), said that they are still waiting for progress report from the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Police, in its report, initially identified Echanis as Manuel Santiago, based on an ID recovered from him and on their interview with the landlady of his rented apartment.
Echanis, 72 – along with Louie Tagapia, 48 – was found dead inside his home in Barangay Nova Proper around 1:35 a.m. on Monday.
Police said his killing was a stabbing incident, but Echanis’ death certificate stated he died of gunshot wounds.
A tug of war between police and Echanis’ family ensued after his cadaver was taken from the crime scene.
Sazon said over ANC interview that either a DNA test or a fingerprint matching were needed first to prove who the victim really was before his body could be released.
From the crime scene, police brought Echanis’ body to Pink Petals Funeral Homes in La Loma. His family then claimed it and brought it to the funeral parlor of their choice – at St. Peter’s Memorial Chapel.
Echanis’ camp said investigators knew about it, although QCPD-CIDU Maj. Elmer Monsalve in a report denied it.
On late Monday night, personnel from La Loma Police Station allegedly “forcibly” took the body from St. Peter’s and brought it again to Pink Petals Funeral Parlor. A member of paralegal team seeking to get Echanis’ body again was then arrested for obstruction of justice.
Police said that at least five men were behind the killing.
Echanis’ body bore gunshot and stab wounds as well as torture marks, according to her widow. In a photo posted by Anakpawis on their Facebook page, Echanis also sustained swollen eyes.
“Dalawang gunshot wounds, mayroong 21 puncture wounds at merong 12 na saksak. Yun ‘yung pagkakaalam natin,” Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas added in an interview on Wednesday after a candle lighting ceremony for Echanis’ soul was held outside Pink Petals Funeral Homes.
Former Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said that Echanis was undergoing medical treatment when he was killed.
Echanis, who was a long-time NDPF consultant and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio-Economic Reforms, was involved in the peace talks with the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2017.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said President Duterte will let investigators proceed with the probe on the killing of Echanis.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after Echanis’s wife appealed to the President to intervene so the remains of her husband can be returned to her after the police took it.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Roque said Duterte will let the process proceed since it would be difficult for anybody to intervene in a police investigation. (with a report from Argyll Geducos)
