CEBU CITY -- The Compostela Police Station commander is being investigated for failing to inform the regional headquarters about the alleged shootout involving agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and suspected members of the Alvin Flores Robbery Gang.

Three other officials from the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), including City Police Chief Jesus Gaquing Sr., will also have to explain why the police were left clueless about the operation.

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This, as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Central Visayas said Wednesday that initial investigation showed the NBI's operation against the robbery gang was legitimate.

CHR investigator Primo Cadampog, who led a team in visiting the crime scene in Barangay Estaca, said they came to the initial conclusion that the operation was legitimate as the NBI agents were armed with arrest warrants for Alvin Flores and gang member Rene Batiancila.

What could not be ascertained, though, was whether the operation resulted in a shootout or rubout, as earlier insinuated, as no witnesses have come forward.

On Wednesday, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas deputy director for operations Marcelo Garbo said Compostela Police Station Chief Milo Dagasdas is being investigated to determine if he has committed serious neglect of duty.

The Regional Intelligence Division will be conducting the investigation, as ordered by PRO-Central Visayas Director Lani-o Nerez.

Garbo said said Dagasdas failed to immediately report to the PRO tactical center through a text message, "which was very critical to us."

Had Dagasdas managed to promptly inform the center, multiple text messages may have been sent to Nerez and the national tactical center.

That way, Dagasdas may have been given proper guidance on what to do. Dagasdas could lose his job if proven guilty.

During Wednesday's Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP), Garbo told reporters that the police were "sort of, slightly" insulted by the NBI's failure to coordinate with the local police about the operation.

"There were operational lapses committed by NBI as regards coordination. Other than that, we cannot say anything," he said, when asked to comment about the report that the killing of the four members of the gang was a rubout case.

He said the NBI should have written the police to coordinate, and not just relay the operation verbally.

Garbo also said they are conducting the investigation to gather intelligence information and documentation about the remaining members of the gang only.

Police have received information that the gang has about 100 to 200 members and has links with the Mindanao-based Kuratong Baleleng Gang.

Garbo said the police have monitored the reported presence of the gang and was working on the case. The NBI team, however, got to the group first.

Upon inspection of the crime scene, the CHR investigators found bullet holes on the walls of the beach house where Flores and his gang stayed.

They also noted that bloodstains have been covered with ashes, something which the NBI reportedly agreed to.

CHR's Cadampog said they will be getting crime scene records from the police to see how it looked at the time of the incident.

Meanwhile, the NBI-Central Visayas is verifying reports that Batiancila, the only gang member who survived the gunfight last week, is wanted in Cebu for robbery with homicide.

This after a person from Sta. Fe town visited the NBI office on Wednesday and gave Executive Officer Ernesto Macabare a photocopy of a November 24, 1996 warrant of arrest signed by Judge Cornelio Jaca.

"We will see if there is a certified true copy of that warrant so we can serve it," Macabare, a lawyer, told Sun.Star Cebu Wednesday.

But the warrant the Sta. Fe resident brought wasn't exactly for Batiancila.

It was issued against one Rene "Boboy" Hijapon and impleaded two others -- Teddy Pariol and Jerry "Junnie" Toyoto. It set bail at P50,000 without providing details as to what the case was all about.

"It could be that Batiancila is an alias. According to the informant, Batiancila and Ritchie Hijapon (one of the four fatalities in the shootout) are first cousins," Macabare said.

Macabare said they will have Batiancila or whatever his name actually is brought to Cebu for presentation to the court if they are able to secure a certified copy of the warrant.

The warrant compounds matters for Batiancila who has other pending warrants, one of which is for illegal possession of firearms lodged before the Regional Trial Court in Caloocan. It was this warrant that the NBI arrested him with in Compostela.

Macabare said the NBI is continuing to verify the backgrounds of those involved in the shootout and determine what their purpose in coming to Cebu really was.

While the police have assured that the group was only here for a vacation, presence of the firearms -- an M16 carbine, a KG9 submachine gun and two .45 cal. Pistols -- the same guns they fought the NBI with, does not conform to the theory.

Moreover, NBI sources said, the mobile phone recovered from the body of one the suspects had 10 names of Cebu business establishments.

Macabare declined to comment, saying nothing has been verified as of yet.

He likewise declined to comment on the CHR inspection on Wednesday.

He also declined to comment on their alleged failure to coordinate with the local police.

An agent, who asked not to be named, however stressed there was coordination between them and the Compostela Police Station and that the NBI even sent a representative to the station. (JTG/JKV/KNR/Sun.Star Cebu)