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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
CIDG urges further investigation of Bogo mayor
Hearsay. That’s what police investigators think of allegations that have linked Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez III to the robbery of a government bank in his town.
Unless corroborative evidence turns up against the mayor, the allegations against him lack “probative value,” the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 said in an initial investigation report to the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 yesterday.
The CIDG 7, under the command of Sr. Supt. Oscar Catalan, found four inconsistencies in the statements of suspected robber Joel Sumabong, who implicated Martinez in the August 2005 robbery of the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Lawyer Inocencio de la Cerna, CIDG 7 legal adviser, and CIDG 7 Deputy Director Rex Derilo, in a press conference yesterday, said they are recommending further investigation on Mayor Martinez.
For their part, investigating prosecutors clarified that Martinez is not a suspect in the robbery case.
Assistant City Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane was surprised with media reports naming Martinez as a suspect, when Suma-bong, along with the 11 other suspects, has yet to file his counter-affidavit.
Gubalane heads the panel of prosecutors tasked to handle the preliminary investigation on the robbery.
Welcome
Martinez, meanwhile, welcomed the CIDG report.
“The reason I never really answered all the accusations is because I knew from the start that these were baseless. Hearing the statements of the witnesses, I already had the feeling that the truth will eventually come out, that’s why I chose to be silent,” Martinez said in a telephone interview.
He “commended” the CIDG 7 for the report, and the National Bureau of Investigation, which made a similar recommendation earlier.
“I hope that we respect the outcome of the investigation and take is as truth of what really happened,” said Martinez, referring to the P9.4-million robbery.
Sumabong surrendered to Chief Insp. Juanito Enguerra last Feb. 6, almost six months after the robbery, and executed an affidavit tagging Martinez as the “mastermind” of the bank robbery.
“Inconsistent”
The CIDG 7, however, noted that Sumabong’s statement on how the robbery was pulled off was inconsistent.
First, the investigation report said, Sumabong claimed that he only acted as a lookout and never entered the bank premises. Several witnesses, however, said otherwise, claiming that he was one of the robbers who entered the bank.
Second, Sumabong claimed to be the leader of the alleged “Mayor Squad” of Martinez, where all the members allegedly participated in the heist.
Sumabong, however, said he only learned about the robbery hours before it was initiated.
Third, Sumabong’s affidavit focused much on the plan to kill Cebu Provincial Police Director Vicente Loot and his wife Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot, the political rival of the Martinezes.
Sumabong also mentioned several killings in Bogo from 2001 to 2005 allegedly upon the instruction of Martinez and other cohorts.
Confession
Derilo and de la Cerna said Sumabong’s statements and the evidence now under the custody of the CIDG 7 are not sufficient to include Martinez in the robbery complaint.
Sumabong’s statement on the alleged plot to kill the Loot couple and the several killings his group allegedly perpetrated will only be considered as “extra-judicial confession.”
Prosecutor Gubalane, though, is yet to receive the extra-judicial confession reportedly submitted by Sumabong to the police. (JST/JPM/JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 1, 2006 issue)
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