Monday, July 10, 2006
Ex-pug turned 'Magdalo' soldier captured in raid
By Alex P. Vidal
THE father of a captured Navy lieutenant and former lightweight contender expressed shock over reports that his son was among those "Magdalo" rebel soldiers accused of plotting to blow up the Batasan Complex where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to deliver her State of the Nation Address (Sona) next week.
Ramon Sadava, 60, said he could not believe that his eldest son, Lieutenant Senior Grade Kiram Sadava, was among those "fugitive" junior officers presented to the media last Friday by PNP Director General Oscar Calderon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Generoso Senga, and Army chief Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon after their capture in a raid in Quezon City.
"My son cannot do that (act of resorting to violence) although we cannot read what was in his mind," said Sadava, security guard of the Cabatuan Comprehensive High School in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Sadava and his younger brother, Shoji, turned pro in April 1995 under the Vidal Boxing Stable managed by Allan Vidal after a sterling record in the amateur ranks.
He racked up 5 wins and 1 loss with 4 knockouts while Shoji had 8 wins, 3 losses and 4 knockouts.
Before he left professional boxing in 1998 to join the military service, Sadava shocked Gary Ordoņez of the Cubao-based Garcia Boxing Stable underneath the OPBF featherwight title defense of champion Cris Saguid at the Araneta Colesium.
Their former coach, Alfredo Amistoso Sr., said Kiram could have been a victim of frame-up or envy in the military service.
"They should not handcuff him because he is not a bad person," appealed Amistoso.
Ramon said the last time he and his son met was some three years ago when the soldier visited them in their house Barangay Ayong, Cabatuan. "We thought that he was well and doing fine with his job as a soldier. When I learned that he was arrested, I was shocked," said Ramon.
Ramon, a part-time referee in amateur boxing, described his 32-year-old son as "family-oriented who cannot even harm a fly."
"He is a principled man and nobody can dictate him what to do now since he is already grown-up," Ramon stressed.
Sadava is reportedly an expert in explosives and is married with two children now living in Palawan. His mother, Estelita Tuares-Sadava of Barangay Tiring, Cabatuan, is a public school teacher.
Sadava was arrested together with Captain Nathaniel Rabonza, 1st Lieutenant Soony Sarmiento and Patricio Bumidang Jr., 2nd Lieutenant Angelbert Gay and Aldrin Baldonado, who are all from the Army, during a raid conducted by members of an elite strike force of the Presidential Anti-Crime and Response (Pacer) unit, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Intelligence and Security Group of the Philippine Army on a two-story, stone house on No. 34 Adler St., Fil-Invest 2, Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City.
Lawyer Jose Christopher "Kit" Belmonte was also arrested.
(July 10, 2006 issue)
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