THERE'S nothing essentially wrong with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents refusing to respond to insinuations that the alleged suspects in the heist on a Rolex shop in Greenbelt 5 in Makati were rubbed out in Compostela town, Cebu.

NBI agents want to portray the operations as “legit” and responding to the insinuations may serve the purpose of dignifying the allegation.

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But they must also understand that the rubout charge is as normal a reaction as that of the Provincial Government, which is hosting a lunch or dinner for them and is planning to give them special commendation for the operation.

Meaning, the rubout claim is not ridiculous and shouldn’t be considered as demoralizing.

Methodical

While many people praised the NBI agents for their swift action against the alleged big-time robbery gang, others were suspicious of their moves during the operation.

The NBI team from Manila that purposely went here to hunt down the suspects looked so “methodical” in the operation that when they headed back to where they came from they left many unanswered questions from a surprised public.

Even local government officials and law enforcement agents, notably the police, were left scratching their heads and momentarily at a loss for words.

Transparency

Compounding the problem was the NBI agents’ lack of transparency in certain areas of the operation, like immediately after the alleged shootout with the robbers happened.

It would be difficult to drive away suspicions when even reporters were cordoned off from the “encounter” site for some five hours and were allowed in only after the bodies of those killed were brought out.

The other point, which is no longer the NBI agents’ fault, is about the difficulty in confirming from independent sources the information divulged by those who conducted the operation themselves.

That, to a certain degree, makes believable the contrary and even outlandish claims about the shootout that some people are concocting.

Probe

To be fair, those who are raising the rubout claim may not really be out to tarnish the image of the NBI operatives but are merely checking if the rules of engagement were followed.

They may also have considered the “shootout” claim to be only a mere blot in a generally admirable NBI effort to solve the Greenbelt 5 heist.

That is a blot that a probe by the Commission on Human Right may yet erase.