NBI 7 does not subject Sinulog Foundation director, aide to a lie detector test

Friday, January 20, 2012

TWO security guards, a cashier and two maintenance workers underwent a polygraph test in relation to the burglary at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) last Monday.

They were identified as Allan Ramil and John Eric Pepito, Marie Angelie Pascual, Manuel Quemada and Rosita Velasco.

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Insp. Rolando Pinili, Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) head, had asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 to conduct the test on them.

Pinili also included Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) executive director and CCSC manager Ricky Ballesteros and his right-hand man Eldebrando Velasquez, but the NBI 7 only took Ballesteros’s testimony.

“If the NBI needs it (polygraph test), then I will do it,” Ballesteros told Sun.Star Cebu.

Pinili said the two men might undergo the test later.

Clarification

In his testimony, Ballesteros told the agents that P1.68 million was indeed kept inside the steel cabinet of the SFI office.

He said his staff had asked if they could place the cash there and he allowed them.

In the early hours of Jan. 16, someone forced open the cabinet and took the money.

CCSC security guard Joselyndon Jabagat was blamed for the loss. The TRS arrested him and charged him last Tuesday.

NBI 7 Assistant Director Lauro Reyes clarified that it is the TRS that is conducting the investigation. He said they were only acceding to Pinili’s request when they conducted the polygraph test.

Reyes admitted that a polygraph test result is not admissible in court. He said it’s only a tool to make the police investigation easier.

Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, head of the Cebu City Police Office, said they will push their limits to resolve the case.

Answer to a challenge

“We welcome his challenge. This is part of our job and we take this hardly on ourselves,” he said, referring to Mayor Michael Rama’s order to solve the case immediately.

“We (will) run after the culprits. Prosecute them. Recover whatever is still available,” he said.

Buenafe said he believes more than one person was involved in the burglary.

In a related development, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said the burglary only showed that crimes in the city have worsened.

“People seem to be getting bolder and bolder in committing crimes,” he said.

So the incident won’t happen again, Young wants closed-circuit televisions to be installed in strategic areas inside the CCSC.

Meanwhile, the vice mayor wants to maximize the use of all the CCSC’s areas, saying the SFI’s office and storage area should be transferred.

That way, the CCSC’s P1-million monthly income from the use of its facilities and rooms will be increased.

Young lamented that SFI occupies almost one-third of the ground floor of the CCSC’s grand stand, which can be used for other sports activities.

“It’s about time for them to have their office somewhere else,” he said.

Ballesteros, for his part, said SFI having its office at the CCSC is not only practical but it is also convenient, since most of the Sinulog activities are held in the center.

He also said they are looking for a space so they can transfer their storage area outside the CCSC.