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Friday, August 19, 2005
'Robbery' case eyed v. cops over raid of house of opposition ally
THE camp of the defeated vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda said Thursday they are studying the filing of robbery charges against the policemen and intelligence agents who staged an alleged "illegal" raid on the house of a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) handwriting expert in San Mateo, Rizal last Tuesday that resulted in the confiscation of "prefabricated" election returns (ERs).
Sixto Brillantes, Legarda's legal counsel in the election protest she filed against Vice President Noli de Castro, accused members of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) of "stealing private property" because the raid on the house of Segundo Taboyoyong, former NBI handwriting expert who is an opposition supporter, was done in the absence of a search warrant.
He said those who entered Tabayoyong's residence can be considered "thieves because they have stolen private property of the opposition."
Brillantes said Legarda had commissioned Tabayoyong to check possible tampering of ERs used in last year's presidential and vice presidential elections. He added that Tabayoyong was also asked by the opposition to look at the ERs in relation to the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The opposition presented last Wednesday four ERs from Pampanga, Las Pinas, Iloilo and Bohol that were "tampered". They said the ERs would translate to at least six million "tampered" votes. They added that the ERs prove their charges of electoral fraud against President Arroyo.
Joint elements of the PNP-CIDG and the Isafp swooped down on Tabayoyong's house and confiscated original and photocopied ER's and other vital documents.
Sorsogon Representative Francis Escudero criticized the raiding team for "confiscating the prefabricated ERs used by the Arroyo administration to cheat in the 2004 elections." He demanded a report on the raid to determine the real purpose of the raid since nothing was considered "illegal" in the house.
Escudero said they were supposed to use the ERs taken by the raiding team as evidence in the electoral protest filed by Legarda against de Castro and in the impeachment proceedings against Arroyo.
But the CIDG insisted that the raid it conducted on the house of Tabayoyong was a "legitimate operation".
Superintendent Wilmar Mayor of the CIDG intelligence unit said there was nothing irregular in the raid where the police confiscated election forms and other paraphernalia.
Newly-installed Armed Forces Chief Generoso Senga vowed to look into the raid on the house of Tabayoyong.
Senga is awaiting a report from the Isafp headed by Brigadier General Marlu Quevedo as regards the operation.
"I'm waiting for the report so that I can see what really happened and whether there is a breach of SOP (standard operating procedure) or instructions," he said. (JFF/Sunnex)
(August 19, 2005 issue)
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