|
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
NBI agents sacked on strafing of van
By Karlon N. Rama
With Garry A. Cabotaje
CEBU -- The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas dismissed and brought to court at least five National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives blamed for firing at a civilian van five months ago.
In a decision reached last April 28, the ombudsman suspended, for six months without pay, former NBI 7 director Romulo Manapsal, finding him administratively guilty of simple misconduct.
Five other respondents were found guilty of grave misconduct and ordered dismissed from service: lawyer Lito Magno and agents Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay, Rey Tumalon and Teodoro Saavedra.
Five hotel employees were wounded, two of them severely, when a team led by Pura fired at them last Dec. 13, 2002, mistaking their vehicle to be that of a suspected drug lord.
No civilian agents are covered by the case, although the decision mentions their role in the disaster: “One of the reasons probably for the bungling of this operation was the presence of untrained and trigger-happy civilians who were allowed to join a very dangerous operation for which, in the first place, they should not have been there.”
Lawyers Inocencio dela Cerna and Fritz Quiñanola, on behalf of Manapsal, said they found the penalty too harsh and will file a motion for reconsideration.
Competence
In an interview, Rep. Loretta “Etta” Rosales hailed the ombudsman’s decision to file a criminal case against the NBI agents. But Rosales appeared unsatisfied with the six-month suspension of former NBI 7 director Manapsal.
“I don’t think he should go back as regional director,” she said.
Rosales said the House committee on human rights will study the competence and qualifications of Manapsal when it convenes in an executive session this June.
The House committee, which Rosales chairs, looked into the incident and conducted hearings in Cebu City and Manila.
In a separate resolution, which Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro signed last Monday, Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago also ordered the five NBI operatives charged with multiple frustrated murder and attempted murder.
Sources from the anti-graft office said the charges already reached the Mandaue City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
The same sources said civilian agents Paul Lauro, a former radio reporter, Joey Cal, Lex Boniface Eric Ayag, Noe Dimaunahan, David Pantano Jr., Allan Magallon, Rick Cruz and a Boy Soon were also charged.
No basis
Manapsal was spared because based on the ombudsman’s findings, his only involvement in the incident was allowing the civilian agents to participate when, months before that, NBI Chief Reynaldo Wycoco already stripped them of any authority by canceling their mission orders.
But in a separate interview, dela Cerna said “there is no basis in law and in fact” to find Manapsal guilty of even simple misconduct.
“We are still trying to study the ombudsman decision. But we will be filing a motion for reconsideration,” Quiñanola said.
The Dec. 13, 2003 strafing resulted in the injuries of five people—Michael Monsod, Nenette Castillon, Gian Carlo Cajoles, Esther Luz Mae Gregorio, Donato Enabe and Alfie Fernandez. Monsod and Cajoles suffered near-fatal injuries.
In the complaint the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 filed in their behalf, they accused the NBI men, together with the confidential agents, of firing at them while they were on their way home from a party in Cordova town.
They were fired upon while they were in Mandaue City and that while they were repeatedly asked to pull over and disembark, the pursuing men never identified themselves to be NBI agents.
Legitimate operation
In their counter-affidavit, the NBI agents and the civilian operatives said they cannot be administratively held liable because they were conducting a legitimate operation against Roberto “Obet” Hegremosa, a suspected big-time drug supplier.
According to their “intelligence sources,” Hegremosa was going to pass by Mandaue City aboard a van that looked like the one the Plantation Bay employees were riding.
The agents said they cannot likewise be charged with frustrated multiple murder and double attempted murder because they did not intend to shoot at the civilians and, in fact, were the ones who brought them to the hospital after finding that they hit the wrong target.
But Santiago, in her findings, said the evidence clearly established that the persons aboard the Plantation Bay L300 van were hit with about 72 bullets of different caliber and that from this evidence, “the intention to kill is very patent.”
“If the intention was to arrest a drug pusher, the rule of engagement dictates that verification should have done as to who are the occupants of the said vehicle,” Santiago said.
Transgression
Administratively, she explained, this construes grave misconduct, which is defined as a “transgression of some established and definite rules of action.”
Also, even if Magno and Pura said they did not fire their weapons during the operation, the fact that they only had themselves tested for gunpowder traces 15 hours after the operation make their claim suspicious.
Likewise, based on the transcript of records collated from the congressional inquiry in relation to the Dec. 13 incident, the NBI men “allowed their civilian friends to join” the operation.
“One of the reasons probably of the bungling of this operation was the presence of untrained and trigger-happy civilians who were allowed to join in a very dangerous operation which, in the first place, they should not have been (allowed),” Santiago said.
Criminally, she said, there was indeed the intent to kill.
“No other conclusion could be reached just by looking at the L300 van with all its bullet holes. Nobody will think that the persons inside survived. However, by God’s will, nobody died,” Santiago said.
The requirement to prove conspiracy among the respondents has also been met.
“Conspiracy may be inferred from the acts of the respondents themselves. Their actions must be judged, not what they say, for what men do is the best index of their intention,” Santiago said in her decision. Sun.Star Cebu
(May 14, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
