Wednesday, October 01, 2008 PASG chided on use of force
THE head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas criticized yesterday the way his agents were handled after they seized a container van, citing the “overreaction on the part of the other agency.”
“This is a reflection of their training and temper under stress,” said Director Medardo de Lemos, referring to the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) in Cebu.
Tension surrounded a warehouse at the reclamation area in Mandaue City around 7 p.m. Monday, when a PASG-Cebu team, back-ed by acting Mandaue Police Chief Mersan Premne and a Swat team from his office, arrived and attempted to seize the weapons of NBI agents taking custody of a container van.
The van’s seizure heeded a mission order signed by Undersecretary Antonio Villar, the PASG chief.
The PASG central office apparently excluded the PASG-Cebu from the case for reasons still unknown, opting instead to send its own people from Manila, to be assisted by the NBI 7.
“Our agents were compliant, not resistant. They continuously identified themselves as NBI agents. Our agents did not have their firearms drawn and thus did not pose a threat. It was easy to determine how to employ the necessary force,” de Lemos said.
But de Lemos’ office also came under fire yesterday.
Ex-NBI 7 director Reynaldo Esmeralda, now deputy director for regional operations (DDROS), demanded to know why the NBI 7 didn’t inform his office before deciding to assist the PASG central office in its operation.
Esmeralda sent the NBI 7 a one-page memorandum and demanded that de Lemos explain why he should not be held administratively liable.
Not NBI’s
“I have asked XO (Executive Officer Ernesto) Macabare to draft the latter. We received the show-cause order hours after we sent the office of the DDROS the after-action report. Still, we will comply,” de Lemos said.
He admitted that the office of the DDROS was not informed of the operation because what happened was technically not an NBI case.
“We were acting on a mission order which assigned us to assist the PASG team from the central office which, incidentally, is headed by a senior deputy director of the NBI as well, who even hand-carried the order to us,” de Lemos said, referring to Atty. Edmund Arugay.
Arugay is the incumbent NBI deputy director for technical services, as well as the chief operations officer of the PASG.
He and his team are expected to return to handle the disposal of the seized container van that, as of Monday night, remained in NBI custody.
Esmeralda, for his part, cited Administrative Order 2 in justifying his issuance of the show-cause order.
Control
That order provides that regional offices first seek his written approval before conducting any investigation or operation, as a way to “control the men on the field.”
There is no decision yet on whether the NBI will lodge a formal complaint.
De Lemos, however, stressed: “Our people weren’t armed for a confrontation. This wasn’t a case of robbery or holdup. It was an operation that merely involved the scrutiny and examination of documents.”
Asked why the NBI didn’t coordinate with the PASG-Cebu for an operation to be conducted inside the latter’s turf, de Lemos said they were in no position to do that.
“If the PASG wanted the Cebu detachment to know about it, then they would have informed them about it,” he said.
On why they also failed to inform the Mandaue City police before conducting the investigation, NBI head agent and executive officer Ernesto Macabare said they didn’t know that the van was headed for a warehouse in Mandaue City.
Tailed
The van left the Cebu International Port (CIP) at 6:45 p.m. Monday, but the agents who tailed it didn’t know where it was headed.
The NBI followed the van until it turned toward a compound in front of the Cebu Doctors’ University. The team entered, announced themselves and proceeded with the seizure by showing the order and attempting to inspect the container van’s documentation for the cargo.
Moments later, however, the Swat team from Mandaue City arrived and with them, the PASG-Cebu.
NBI special investigators Rey Villordon and Greg Tomagan were allegedly forced to lie on the ground.
Jojo Collantes, PASG-Cebu deputy director, confirmed that two NBI agents were disarmed by the combined PASG-Cebu and the Swat team, but did not give details.
Both agents denied this in an interview, however, saying they were only held at gunpoint and were outnumbered. A PASG-Cebu operative, identified as Noel Villamor, reportedly kept giving instructions that they get down and surrender their firearms.
Order
ASG chief Villar’s mission order covered three container vans located inside the CIP. The instruction was to place it under custody as soon as it left the port.
The order, dated Sept. 26 and valid until Oct. 6, authorized the team led by Arugay and supported by the NBI Cebu to “investigate the presence of alleged goods; to apprehend persons possibly involved in the smuggling (of) the said goods.”
Meanwhile, Florante Ricarte, assistant assessment chief of the Bureau of Customs Port of Cebu, said they are still waiting for the report from PASG-Manila before commenting on the incident.
As a matter of customs policy, he explained, all shipments released with the corresponding duties and taxes are presumed to be legal.
For shipments to be released, the procedure is: the filing of an import entry, inspection by the customs examiner, assessment of duties and taxes by the customs appraiser, payment of duties and taxes, and issuance of a clearance for release from the BOC and Cebu Port Authority. (KNR/With EOB)
