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Monday, April 03, 2006
'Drug angle softened in slay victim case'
By Danilo V. Adorador III
UNSEEN hands are trying to suppress the drug angle in the twin killings of Capitol employees Marlon Kaye Roa and Manuel Natindim Jr. last month, an official close to the investigation hinted over the weekend.
This comes in the heels with the investigators' decision to downgrade from murder to homicide the cases previously filed against 11 persons suspected of killing Roa and Natindim -- both immediate relatives of Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno. Kidnapping charges were retained.
Eyeing stiffer penalties, the task force deemed it proper to amend the suit because kidnapping with homicide is a "special complex crime," explained lawyer Alex Cabornay, assistant regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a press briefing called by the multi-agency taskforce last Thursday.
Downgrading the case from murder to homicide, however, was riddled with "ambiguity," said the official who requested anonymity because he was part of the task force, which prepared the report downplaying the drug-angle in the victims' deaths.
He declined to comment on reports reaching this paper that the findings of some agency-members were isolated in the final report released last week.
In criminal jurisprudence, murder is deliberate and pre-meditated while homicide is the act of killing without necessarily any criminal intent.
Victims knew
In the case of Roa and Natindim, there were signs that their killings may have been "carefully planned" and "meticulously executed," he noted. He cited some initial findings in the investigation which would supposedly prove this:
* The suspects abducted the victims first, then used Natindim's car to ferry them to the location where they met their deaths. Five of the eleven suspects were reportedly involved in this stage of the plan.
* The victims knew their captors, based on witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence gathered.
* If the suspects were carnappers, they would have spared the lives of victims and drop them off somewhere in a scarcely populated area while en-route to Lanao del Norte.
Statements from some task force officials "negating" or "de-emphasizing" the illegal drug angle in the case did not also help, he said, adding that the "no-drugs rhetoric instead have become suspect as they repeat those lines."
"People have become suspicious that there are attempts to dilute the drug angle considering all these careless statements coming from some people involved in the investigation" the official said.
Speculations
The victims were close relatives of Governor Moreno, he said, heightened this suspicion.
He added, "Of course, we can't speculate who might be trying to suppress this angle and why because these are only assumptions."
At the taskforce's report presentation last week, regional police director Florante Baguio ruled out illegal drugs in the investigation especially, he said, because Natindim and Roa were not in the Philippine National Police watchlist for drug pushers and users.
"Those were all speculations," Baguio said, though he quickly added that the angle on so-called illegal drugs deal between the suspects and the victims is also being looked at by investigators.
But Baguio is keener on the carnapping angle based on the alleged replacement of plate number of the pajero being driven by the victims.
However, the official was worried that focusing on the carnapping angle, while belittling the other ones -- particularly illegal drugs, may affect the "integrity" of the investigation.
Initial investigation already identified the suspects as illegal drug traders, aside from being suspected kidnappers and carnappers, he said, adding the three of them have standing warrants of arrest in connection with kidnapping and frustrated murder charges last year.
He also added that the carnapping angle "may be of little substance if not at all ludicrous," noting that there were "blatant indications" that the suspects did not take interest with Natindim's Mitsubishi Pajero--found half-buried in Tagoloan, Lanao del Norte.
"This case has a long way to go, if we are interested in pursuing the truth behind these killings," he said.
Meanwhile, Baguio said a round-the-clock operation is going on to pin down suspects Bernard "Ato" Manalocon, Alioden "Aklim" Dimnatang, Aklen "Aducol" Murabi, SPO1 Nasser Imam (a retired police officer from Lanao Norte), Alikhan Dimnatang and seven other John Does. (With reports from Sun.Star Superbalita)
(April 3, 2006 issue)
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