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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
IBP tags ‘brains, vigilante killers’
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) knows “six to eight men” who are behind the vigilante-style attacks that began in Cebu City in late 2004, an official said yesterday.
“We have names, their addresses, how many there are, who their mastermind is,” said Cebu City chapter president Alex Tolen-tino in an interview.
“We cannot reveal details, but our source is very reliable. This is first-hand information,” he said.
It’s information that Tolentino wants to bring to the Melo Commission, the five-member body that President Arroyo formed to investigate the killings of activists and media practitioners.
As this developed, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal called for security for witnesses, as the first step in solving summary executions.
“If we encourage witnesses, we hope the government will also give security. There are no witnesses because they are afraid that the following day, they will be the victims,” the cardinal told reporters yesterday.
The archbishop, though, said he is not privy to reports that the IBP Cebu City chapter already has the identity of six to eight persons allegedly involved in the summary executions, or that they are “trained and paid.”
Neutral
If the IBP Cebu City chapter does not trust the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), they can approach other law enforcement units to help investigate the rash of killings, said acting CCPO Director Melvin Gayotin.
But Gayotin also took exception to insinuations that the city police is sitting on the problem.
“If they can help us, that will be a welcome development. Sige sila’g panghinaway, wala gani sila kasulbad sa ilang problema (They keep lambasting us, when they haven’t even solved their own problems). I am not picking a fight but they should not accuse us of being incompetent. It is unfair,” Gayotin said.
Gayotin issued the statement following Tolentino’s interview over radio dyLA yesterday.
“We are working like a worm, moving slowly but surely. Dili pareha sa atong CCPO director nga lisud kaayo pukawon (Unlike our CCPO director, who’s so difficult to awaken),” Tolentino said.
He is trying to get in touch with the commission, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Jose Melo, but that the IBP will proceed with a fact-finding investigation on its own, if the commission does not take cognizance of the issue.
Murderers
“Calling them vigilantes is wrong,” Tolentino said. “They are simply murderers.”
Gayotin, in an interview with reporters, said he will order the Homicide Section to communicate with Tolentino and offer to help.
Of the 168 such killings in Cebu City since December 2004, the CPPO solved five cases, including the killing of Dominador Villamor last Feb. 26, 2005.
Police Regional Office Director Silverio Alarcio Jr., who was also interviewed over dyLA, hopes that the IBP will coordinate with the police.
He also described the investigation by the IBP as a welcome development.
“Magtinabangay na lang (Let’s just help one another). We need to talk and see what we can do,” Alarcio said.
The attacks have also drawn the attention of human rights monitors.
Connections
Regional Director Alejandro Alonso of the Commission on Human (CHR) 7 told Sun.Star Cebu that last Aug. 16, political affairs officer Scott Billard of the United States Embassy met with him to be briefed about the human rights situation in Central Visayas, including the vigilante-style killings.
Tolentino, in the same interview, revealed that the group is highly funded and appropriately trained to carry out the killings.
He said the leader appears to be very well connected in the sense that he has access to court and police records. Nearly all of the victims were suspected or convicted criminals, but the attacks on them were unprovoked.
“You make your own conclusions,” he said, when asked if this indicates some government control.
But he also said: “If the IBP, with its limited resources, was able to uncover this, then how much more the police with their teams of investigators and network of informants?”
Rights
Tolentino said a police official is helping the investigating panel created by the IBP to unmask the mastermind and the perpetrators.
The IBP hopes to finish the investigation and file charges before Cebu hosts in international summit in December.
He found it ironic that human rights is one of the subjects up for discussion during the Asean Summit, and yet extra-judicial killings are happening in Cebu City.
While saying they are now 75 percent done, Tolentino was careful not to give away any clues.
Tolentino said the IBP will only ask for assistance from a neutral entity in the investigation or filing of the complaints, but not CCPO. (JST/KNR/With JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 30, 2006 issue)
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