The Police Killing of Joshua Laxamana

A summary of two perspectives regarding the event.

On August 17, 2018, 17-year-old Joshua Laxamana was gunned down by the Philippine National Police in Rosales, Pangasinan, Philippines. Joshua allegedly drove past a checkpoint and shot at the pursuing police, which forced the latter to retaliate and kill him. Joshua's companion, 15-year-old Julius Sebastian, remains missing. This happened during the height of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs.

According to the police, Joshua was suspected of being part of a criminal gang due to tattoos on his arm. One of those tattoos is the Dota 2 character Queen of Pain. Joshua was well-known in Tarlac City using his username "imadotes".^[1]

This incident was spread to international Dota 2 communities, including the subreddit /r/dota2. It was also reported on the September 13, 2018, episode of the Philippine documentary series Reporter's Notebook by GMA Network. The episode added more inconsistencies in the police reports.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte, who served as Philippine president from 2016 until 2022, conducted a brutal war on drugs that saw thousands of Filipinos dead. Due to a quota and reward system, the Philippine National Police were encouraged to increase the capture and kill count. To increase the kill count, the PNP would pick up, interrogate, and murder a person regardless of innocence.

The modus operandi of the police is to use the "nanlaban" (fought back) scenario. The police would claim that the supposed suspect shot first, which allowed the police to use lethal force. After killing the suspect, the police would then plant evidence on the scene, which includes guns and drugs, to justify the killing. One of the most infamous fake "nanlaban" cases is the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, where official police reports did not align with witnesses and CCTV footage.

On August 15, 2018, Joshua Laxamana, Julius Sebastian, and another 19-year-old whose identity is concealed as "Alex",^{[note 1]} decided to travel from Tarlac City, Tarlac, to Baguio City, Benguet, to compete in a Dota tournament. They commuted by hitchhiking in trucks that were bound for Baguio City.

On August 16, the trio decided to return home to Tarlac City. In Pangasinan, Alex was separated from Joshua and Julius. By August 17, Alex was the only one to arrive home safely. Joshua was killed by the police for an alleged "nanlaban" incident in Rosales, Pangasinan, while Julius remains missing. The police did not know the existence of a second witness, Alex, at that time.

While the killing occurred on August 17, the incident only gained traction in social media in early September after the Philippine human rights advocacy group Rise Up for Life and for Right issued a press release regarding the matter^[2] and when award-winning Filipino photographer Ezra Acayan issued a Twitter thread with more details.^[1]

This timeline was sourced from various sources, including the Reporter's Notebook documentary and Rise Up for Life and for Rights press release.

This is the timeline according to Alex and Joshua's mother, Christine Pascual:

• On August 15, Joshua Laxamana, Julius Sebastian, and Alex commuted to Baguio through a series of hitchhikes. They arrived safely in Baguio City.
• On August 16 at around 4-5 PM, they decided to commute back home. They managed to hitch a ride in a truck bound for Tarlac City.
• The truck driver had a change of plans and had to drop them off at Sison, Pangasinan. The three decided to set foot toward Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
• Alex wanted to rest first before continuing. Joshua and Julius left Alex and continued on foot. They parted ways along Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).
• After resting, Alex managed to hitch a ride towards Tarlac City. He arrived safely.
• On August 17, Joshua and Julius were still nowhere to be found in Tarlac City.
• On August 20, Christine reported her son missing.
• On August 21, Christine was informed by her barangay tanod that her son was in a morgue in Pangasinan. He was killed by the police in Rosales.

The suspect came from the east in neighboring Balungao, Pangasinan.

This is the timeline according to the official police reports:^[3]

• On August 17 past midnight, an unidentified motorcyclist disregarded an "OPLAN SITA" operation conducted by PNP personnel in Balungao, Pangasinan (east of Rosales).
• At around 2:53 AM, the suspect arrived at neighboring Rosales, Pangasinan, and ran past a dragnet operation via a checkpoint at the intersection of Umingan-Rosales road and Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija road. The police give chase. This moment was captured on CCTV along with the timestamp.
• The chase continued along Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija road until the suspect turned right into Cuyapo road (TPLEX access road).
• The suspect lost control of his motorcycle and crashed near the first bridge in Cuyapo road.
• The suspect was ordered to surrender, but he instead shot back at the police which prompted the latter to use lethal force and kill him.
• At 4:19 PM, the Facebook page of the PNP Police Regional Office 1 Public Information Office posted an initial report of the incident. Alongside the above details, it identified the suspect as Joshua Laxamana, an 18-year-old from barangay San Vicente, Tarlac City. It claimed that Joshua was involved in four "Akyat Bahay" burglary incidents in Pangasinan. It also claimed that he was carrying a gun, ammunition, and a sachet of crystal meth (shabu).

• The suspect came from Balungao, Pangasinan, which is over 6 kilometers east of TPLEX where Joshua and Julius were supposed to be traveling.
• Joshua's mother insists that Joshua does not own a motorcycle, nor does he know how to ride one.
• One of Joshua's tattoos, which the PNP claimed was "proof" of his involvement in a burglary gang, is a tattoo of the Dota 2 character Queen of Pain.
• In just over 13 hours, the PNP published a public report on a Facebook post^[3] where it was quickly able to identify the suspect as Joshua Laxamana from Tarlac City, even though there were no IDs found on Joshua's body. The prosecutors claim that the PNP interrogated him before killing him, which is how they were able to obtain that information.
• The Facebook post identified Joshua as 18-years-old. He was 17 at the time of death.
• In an interview by Reporter's Notebook with PNP Rosales Chief of Police John L. Corpuz, Corpuz only confirmed one robbery incident linked to Joshua instead of the four "Akyat Bahay" burglaries claimed in the Facebook post. Corpuz claimed that Joshua was positively identified post-mortem by a witness as one of the suspects in a June 18 robbery at a gas station. When Reporter's Notebook interviewed an attendant at that gas station, she could not identify Joshua as a suspect because the robbers wore masks during the robbery.

Christine Pascual, Joshua's mother, attempted to press charges against the PNP personnel in Pangasinan. Joshua's case was represented by Attorney Maria Kristina Conti of the National Union of People’s Lawyers. In 2019, 6 officers from Pangasinan faced murder, obstruction of justice, and planting of evidence charges before the Office of the Ombudsman. These were Chief Inspector John Corpuz; PO2s Arvin Abella, Roy Sarmiento, and Ronald Casareno; SPO3 Oliver Vingua, and SPO1 Hilario Taquiqui Jr. The police spot report tagged Abella and Sarmiento as the main perpetrators, while Corpuz, Abella. and Sarmiento were liable for the planting of evidence.^[4]

In 2023, the International Criminal's Court (ICC) resumed its probe into Duterte's drug war. Christine revealed that the cases against the PNP went from the Ombudsman up to the Supreme Court. All of them were dismissed, and there were no room for appeals. Christine is now relying on the ICC investigation for justice.^[5]

As of May 2024, Joshua's case remains unresolved.

• 

  Joshua's tattoos which the PNP claims link him to 'Akyat Bahay' gangs in Pangasinan. The second tattoo is an art of Dota 2's Queen of Pain.

1. "Alex" was the anonymous name given by the Reporter Notebook's documentary. Other publications might use a different name.

1. Twitter thread by @eacayan on September 4, 2018. September 4, 2018 at 10:38 AM (initial post). Ezra Acayan (@eacayan). Twitter. Retrieved on 2024-05-02.
2. Rise Up for Life and for Rights post on September 1, 2018. September 1, 2018 at 3:09 PM (PHT). Rise Up for Life and for Rights team. Rise Up for Life and for Rights Facebook page. Retrieved on 2024-05-02.
3. PRO1 Public Information Office Facebook post on August 17, 2018. August 17, 2018 at 4:19 PM (PHT). PRO1 Public Information Office team. PRO1 Public Information Office Facebook page. Retrieved on 2024-05-02.
4. 6 cops face murder case. February 7, 2019 at 10:30 PM. Rio N. Araja. Manila Standard. Retrieved on 2024-05-02.
5. Justice delayed: What the ICC probe means to drug war victims’ families (Part 1). February 21, 2023 at 8:00 PM. Jean Mangaluz. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved on 2024-05-02.