Roger Herrero was a simple pedicab driver from Atimonan, Quezon, struggling to support his common-law wife, Sheila Marie, and their four young children on roughly PHP 300 a day. He supplemented his income by selling secondhand goods. His life, though difficult, was ordinary until the night of November 1, 2018 (Undas, or All Saints’ Day).

Around 9 p.m., Herrero and his friend Franklin “Aga” Pareja were walking home in Agdangan when a dark vehicle stopped abruptly beside them. Four men emerged, pointed guns, forced Herrero to the ground, handcuffed him, and shoved him into the backseat. Aga managed to escape. Inside the car, wedged between two men, Herrero recognized his abductors with chilling clarity: they were four local police officers from the Agdangan station.

He identified PO2 Jaymar Espedido and SPO3 Noel Malabayabas beside him, SPO2 Ryan Nobo driving, and SPO4 Wilson Villegas in the passenger seat. Herrero knew them by sight, especially Espedido, who often patrolled his area. Confusion turned to terror when Herrero overheard Espedido on the phone saying, “He’s with us now… Tell them he’s gone.” Malabayabas then demanded Herrero confess to being a thief.

When Herrero denied it, Malabayabas began shouting and beating him. Herrero heard Nobo telling Villegas they would stop at Villegas’s house for a meal after they were “done.” Villegas directed Nobo towards their destination. Throughout the drive, Malabayabas continued to beat Herrero, demanding a confession. Herrero pleaded for his life, explaining he had young children, and begged them to reposition his painful handcuffs, but his pleas were met with shouts and more blows.

They arrived in Barangay Lakip, Atimonan, a remote area Malabayabas deemed “perfect.” After confirming Herrero didn’t know the place, Nobo drove about a kilometer down a dark, unpaved road and parked. Herrero saw Villegas retrieve something from between his legs—the unmistakable sound confirmed it was a gun. Villegas handed the weapon to Espedido.

Espedido ordered Herrero out of the car. With the gun pointed at his head, he was marched into the darkness. “Pray if you know how,” Espedido allegedly told him. Then, a gunshot exploded. The bullet struck Herrero high on the cheek. He remembered nothing more until waking up alone, handcuffs gone, blood pouring from his face.

Despite excruciating pain, Herrero summoned the strength to walk, desperate to survive for his family. Barangay Lakip is a sparsely populated area; finding help in the pitch-dark, remote location was a monumental task. He followed a distant light to a house and knocked. An elderly woman opened the door but, seeing his bloody state, quickly shut and locked it.

Undeterred, Herrero stumbled back to the road where another man found him and quickly rallied neighbors. A tricycle driver rushed him to Doña Marta Memorial District Hospital. Unable to speak due to his shattered jaw, Herrero asked for pen and paper. He wrote down what happened, identified the officers by surname, and penned a farewell message to his partner, unsure if he would survive.

Police Master Sergeant Joseph Ramirez, an investigator from Atimonan PNP, arrived and took Herrero’s written statement. Around the same time, photojournalists or “nightcrawlers,” Vincent Go and Ezra Acayan, who were in Quezon province covering rising crime rates, arrived at the hospital. They photographed Herrero’s injuries, images that would later prove crucial.

Herrero required specialized surgery. He was transferred first to Quezon Memorial Medical Center in Lucena City, then to De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Doctors there performed complex surgery, removing the bullet lodged near his zygomatic bone. They considered his survival miraculous, attributing it to his will to live and the quick actions of those who helped him.

However, his jaw needed reconstruction with a titanium plate, costing PHP 125,000—an impossible sum for Herrero.

On November 2, Herrero’s wife filed a complaint with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Agent Valentino Cardoza took the case, interviewing Herrero at the hospital using written questions.

Herrero provided the officers’ names again and sketched the location of the shooting. Cardoza interviewed residents and hospital staff, corroborating parts of Herrero’s account.

Cardoza also interviewed Espedido, who offered a conflicting narrative. Espedido claimed their precinct received a call from a Romel Supilnas, alleging Herrero had robbed him at gunpoint. Espedido stated that when they approached Herrero, shots were fired, forcing them to return fire in self-defense.

However, when Agent Cardoza subpoenaed Supilnas, he never appeared, casting doubt on Espedido’s story. The other three accused officers ignored NBI subpoenas.

The NBI subsequently filed frustrated murder and administrative charges against SPO4 Wilson Villegas, SPO3 Noel Malabayabas, SPO2 Ryan Nobo, and PO2 Jaymar Espedido. Gross neglect of duty charges were also filed against their station chief, Wilson Mansion. In a retaliatory move, the four officers filed robbery, frustrated murder, and illegal possession of firearms charges against Herrero.

Public opinion sided heavily with Herrero, especially given the context of numerous extrajudicial incidents involving police at the time. Herrero’s plight gained national attention when photojournalist Ezra Acayan shared his story and photos on Facebook, launching a GoFundMe campaign for the needed surgery.

Filipinos responded overwhelmingly, donating over PHP 300,000, covering the surgery, hospital bills, and medication.

The public outcry led to consequences for the accused officers. On November 21, 2018, Quezon Provincial Police Director Osmundo de Guzman announced the suspension of Chief Wilson Mansion and the four implicated officers, assuring the public of impartiality and citing an “internal cleansing” within the force.

Herrero received legal assistance from the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG). The counter-charges against him posed a threat. After recovering sufficiently, Herrero was placed under hospital arrest based on the charges filed by the officers.

In March 2019, FLAG raised alarms when Herrero was arrested again, seemingly without a warrant, fearing for his safety in detention. PNP Chief Albayalde clarified the arrest was legal, executing the original warrant now that Herrero was medically cleared for transfer to jail.

Eventually, the charges against Herrero were dismissed due to lack of evidence. During the trial against the officers in 2019, Romel Supilnas finally testified, claiming Herrero and Aga robbed him while riding tandem on a motorcycle.

However, his testimony lacked credibility under cross-examination, and Sheila Marie refuted his claim, stating Herrero didn’t even know how to ride a motorcycle.

The officers reiterated their self-defense narrative, claiming they responded to Supilnas’s robbery report and exchanged fire with Herrero and Aga, who then escaped.

Their explanation for not reporting the alleged shootout or pursuing the suspects was deemed flimsy by the court. Herrero’s lawyer powerfully presented the bloody notes Herrero wrote in the hospital as undeniable evidence of the officers’ brutality.

On April 25, 2023, Judge Michael Vito of Gumaca RTC Branch 17 found Villegas, Malabayabas, Nobo, and Espedido guilty of attempted murder. The judge dismissed Supilnas’s testimony as unreliable and deemed the officers’ self-defense claim unbelievable, particularly their failure to report a supposed shootout.

Citing conspiracy (“the act of one is the act of all”), the judge sentenced each former officer to 5 years, 8 months to 10 years imprisonment and ordered them to pay significant damages totaling approximately PHP 1.4 million.

Further investigation revealed attempts to silence Herrero. While he was recovering, Villegas and another officer allegedly visited him, accompanied by local councilors, offering PHP 200,000 for his silence, which he refused.

Roger Herrero’s incredible survival and courageous fight, amplified by compassionate journalists and a supportive public, resulted in a rare conviction of abusive police officers in the Philippines.