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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Bullet-riddled resort van presented in hearing
The prosecution finally presented yesterday the van that National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents mistakenly strafed three years ago.
The van was inspected in front of the police crime laboratory in Camp Sotero Cabahug on Gorordo Ave., where it has since been kept under custody.
Myrna Areola, PNP Regional Crime Laboratory chief, facilitated the presentation.
Prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, defense lawyers headed by Joey Luis Wee, and Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Augustine Vestil and his staff joined the inspection yesterday.
Areola denied insinuations from the defense that the vehicle was tampered with.
After it was strafed early dawn of Dec. 13, 2002, the van was towed to the PNP Crime Laboratory where it was examined for five days, and was covered with newspaper, plastic sheets and duct tape before carpenters boxed it in with ply boards.
Areola said the van was moved only once last year but the newspaper and plastic sheets were never taken off.
From where the van was examined, it was dragged a few feet away towards the PNP clinic so it won’t be touched while the PNP Crime Laboratory got renovated. Again, the van was boxed in with ply boards.
Markings
Defense lawyers raised several manifestations during the presentation, including how police examiners failed to make necessary markings on the plastic newspaper sheets.
Deolito Alvarez, one of the defense counsel, also pointed out cuts in the plastic sheets, allegedly giving the impression that somebody tried to get inside the van. The cuts, he said, appear to have been taped over.
But Areola denied the possibility of the van was tampered with.
She said the van has been under guard since the day it arrived in the laboratory.
Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago, in an April 28, 2003 resolution counted 72 bullet holes of different diameters on the van, showing that the guns used were of various calibers.
The resolution led to the filing of the case against NBI agents Lito Magno, Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay, Rey Tumalon and Teodoro Saavedra, and assets Eric Ayag, Joey Cal, Rick Cruz, Noe Dimaunahan, Paul Lauro, Allan Magallon, David Pantano and Carlos “Boy” Soon.
The bullet holes convinced Santiago that “the intention to kill was very patent” on the part of those who strafed the vehicle that was ferrying resort employees home from work that night.
The NBI team, in their defense, argued that the shooting was in pursuit of a legitimate operation and that they were acting on information that suspected drug peddler Roberto “Obit” Hegremosa was on board the van that failed to stop when they commanded it to.
“If the intention was to arrest a drug pusher, the rule of engagement dictates that verification should have been done as to who were the occupants of the said vehicle,” Santiago said. (KNR)
(September 27, 2005 issue)
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