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Wednesday, December 18, 2002
NBI told: Be clean, bare civvie agents
By Garry A. Cabotaje
CEBU -- A top official of Plantation Bay fears that confidential agents (CA) of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) paid for their identities to be kept secret, so they can avoid answering for a botched operation that hurt five resort workers.
Also Tuesday, the resort management offered to arrange for immunity from suit for dyAB radio reporter Paul Lauro, as long as the former confidential agent of the NBI tells the truth about last Friday’s operation.
Lauro may be able to identify the civilian agents who participated in the Friday the 13th strafing in Mandaue City, which nearly killed five resort employees.
If he remains silent on the matter, it’s not only the image of the NBI that is adversely affected but the Cebu media as well, the resort officials said.
“It depends on the kind of information he (Lauro) can give. If he tells the truth and reveals all the facts, we might be able to arrange his immunity. Ipatigbabaw niya ang iyang pagka media aron mogawas ang tinuod,” said lawyer Adelino Sitoy, a Plantation Bay board official.
Lauro, a self-confessed former CA, was the only reporter who was around when NBI 7 operatives strafed a Mitsubishi L300 Exceed van, which they mistook as the vehicle of a big-time drug trader at 2 a.m. last Friday.
But it turned out that it was a Plantation Bay service vehicle boarded by five resort employees who were heading home after a Christmas party.
Meanwhile, top NBI officials assured there will be a no-holds-barred investigation as they vowed to name those who participated in the shooting, aside from five NBI 7 organic members.
But when asked for a list of CAs. Samuel Ong, NBI deputy director for regional offices, said they are unsure if such a list existed, as all the CAs’ accreditations have been cancelled.
Withholding names
In a press conference at Plantation Bay resort president Emmanuel Gonzales accused the NBI 7 and its director on-leave of attempting a massive cover-up by withholding the names of at least 10 CAs and the firearms of the NBI operatives.
He described this cover-up as “inept, crude and full of weak links” and urged NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco to relieve or suspend, instead of allowing NBI 7 Regional Director Romulo Manapsal to take a leave as well as the five NBI organic members.
“We know that you were offered a deal and promises of money by the CAs you are shielding. These promises were based on the assumption that the victims were ordinary people who could be bought off cheap. But you’re wrong, these are not ordinary people,” said an emotional Gonzales Tuesday.
Gonzales even described the five NBI 7 organic members —Angelito Magno, Teodoro Saavedra, Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay and Rey Tumalon—as fall guys whom he dared to “salvage what little honor you have left and come clean.”
He vowed to pursue the criminal charges against those who were involved in the incident.
“I hold them equally responsible as if they shot men. In every string that you pull, I will pull two more,” Gonzales said.
For his part, Acting NBI 7 Director Amador Robeniol said Magno, Pura, Saavedra, Garay and Tumalon were already subjected to paraffin test, but there are no results yet.
Despite the recovery of six types of bullets and empty shells, including those from an M-16 Armalite rifle, Gonzales lamented that the NBI 7 produced only the handguns of Magno, Saavedra and Pura.
“Where’s the M-16 Armalite rifle,” he said.
But Robeniol said it’s useless to subject the firearms to ballistic tests as the recovered empty shells were all turned over to the police.
Four vehicles
Gonzales also pointed out that there was no roadblock or checkpoint; no NBI 7 agent was hit or sideswiped by the van; the drug tip was a fabrication; and there were 15 assailants and three or four vehicles.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 earlier said that at least four vehicles—a blue pickup, a white Pajero, a white van and a brown Starex van—that were allegedly used in the NBI operation.
At least eight witnesses, including the five wounded resort employees, have already executed affidavits at CIDG 7.
Gonzales said he observed that Manapsal was “incommunicado” for almost 10 hours right after the incident. “Where was he? Whom did he meet? What did he broker?” he asked.
Sitoy said they are giving NBI 7 organic members and Lauro a chance to reveal those who took part in the operation and tell the truth.
Lauro has denied carrying a gun or firing a shot at the van, as he disembarked at the Mandaue City Hall.
When contacted by a fellow reporter, Lauro seemed not amenable to the offer, reiterating that he did not take part in the operation.
Lauro, who is said to be out-of-town, said he also has a lawyer to assist him.
At the NBI 7 office, NBI Deputy Director for Regional Operations Samuel Ong vowed to come up with names of those who may have participated in the NBI 7’s anti-drug operation.
Ong and two other NBI-Manila officials—Nestor Mantaring, NBI deputy director for administrative services and Larry Reyes, Internal Affairs Division chief—arrived Tuesday to determine if rules of engagement have been violated by the NBI 7 operatives.
But Ong took exception to Gonzales’ accusation of a cover-up. “We don’t have the slightest intention to cover up or whitewash this investigation,” he said.
With the arrival of the bureau’s Manila investigators, the special committee created by Manapsal has already been dissolved. The committee, though, was required to submit all the facts they have gathered.
Since there are no more CAs, Ong believes those who joined in the operation could be plain civilians who were asked to assist the NBI.
Ong cited Section 10 of Rule 113 of the Revised Rules of Court, which states that “an officer making a lawful arrest may orally summon as many persons as he deems necessary to aid him in making the arrest.”
“Every person so summoned by an officer shall aid him in the making of such arrest, when he can render such aid without detriment to himself,” the rule added. Sun.Star Cebu |
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