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Friday, October 03, 2003
Sandalo, vice chief risk being ousted
CEBU -- City Police Office (CCPO) Director Cecil Ezra Sandalo and another police official may lose their posts if it's proven they coddled a policeman accused of extortion.
As Mayor Tomas Osmeņa made the warning, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 is considering the filing of an obstruction of justice complaint against Sandalo and Vice Control Section (VCS) Chief Marvin Sanchez.
"Out. There's no thinking about it," Osmeņa said, adding that both police officials will "have to answer and not skirt the issue."
However, Sandalo said Thursday that he and Sanchez did not sign a pre-operation report to save PO3 Paquito Monterroyo's neck.
"I think it is premature for them (NBI) to say that. They are testing my integrity. There was no cover-up," Sandalo told reporters.
But he admitted there may have been a lapse on Monterroyo's part for having the document signed on Aug. 12, when the pre-operation began last Aug. 5 yet.
Monterroyo was arrested in an entrapment in Lapu-Lapu City after businessman Mino Disomundeg complained to the NBI that the policeman extorted P300,000 from him.
Sanchez, in a preliminary investigation Thursday, told Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor Evangeline Gicale that the pre-operation report "was not done as an afterthought."
Obstruction
Monterroyo had explained to him that he wanted to make sure his information was solid, before he had the report signed, Sanchez added.
NBI 7 Director Reynaldo Esmeralda said the pre-operation report was "a clear afterthought" designed to give Monterroyo legal authority to operate.
In a report sent to the mayor, Esmeralda said the NBI 7 is evaluating possible legal actions against Sandalo and Sanchez "for their apparent obstruction of justice and undue advantage to Monterroyo in violation of the Anti-Graft Law."
"If that is their plan, we just have to face it," Sandalo said, adding that he is coordinating with Esmeralda to get to the bottom of the issue.
"Ordinarily, this could sour our relationships, but not us," he said.
The mayor, who asked Esmeralda to send him a copy of the report, said he will ask "some old hands in the police if it's normal" to have a pre-operational report dated the same day the operation was conducted.
Also, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 confirmed that Monterroyo did not coordinate with the agency during the time he claimed to have conducted surveillance Disomundeg.
'Highly irregular'
The pre-operation report required Monterroyo to coordinate with the PDEA 7.
Under RA 9165, the new anti-drugs law, all law enforcement agencies must coordinate with the PDEA.
Esmeralda pointed out that the report was prepared on Aug. 12, the day Monterroyo was entrapped outside the Gaisano Mactan after allegedly extorting P300,000 from Disomundeg.
The NBI 7 finds "very unprofessional and highly irregular" the actions taken by Sandalo and Sanchez.
The joint affidavit of Sandalo and Sanchez that supported Monterroyo's operation was "a very crude attempt to cover up the illegal activities of the policeman," read Esmeralda's report to Osmeņa.
The bureau also finds it absurd that the two police officials allowed Monterroyo, as stated in his counter-affidavit, to accept "show money" from Disomundeg.
"Any superior officer worthy of his position would never approve of such practice by a subordinate," Esmeralda's report said.
Sandalo admitted he signed the pre-operation report early morning of Aug. 12, or hours before Monterroyo's arrest.
Sandalo: 'Unfair'
Sandalo said he remembered signing the document because it was the same day Sanchez had arrived from Bohol after arresting suspected ammonium nitrate dealer Antonio Reyes.
He said that Monterroyo had the document signed that morning because "he was sure" the operation could be finalized on that day.
After signing it, Monterroyo left to attend to his court duties and was later arrested in Gaisano Mactan.
"They should look at the goodness of people first before proving they are evil. It's unfair," Sandalo said.
Meanwhile, the National Police Commission (Napol-com) 7 denied Monterroyo's motion for reconsideration to dismiss the grave misconduct case Disomundeg filed against him.
The Napolcom 7 earlier denied Monterroyo's motion to dismiss the case after finding no merit in his allegation that the complainant had violated the non-forum shopping rule.
At the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor's Office, Gicale asked Monterroyo why there was a bundle of money during his arrest, when all he wanted was to get information from Disomundeg.
Monterroyo replied that Disomundeg offered to give the buy-bust money, in addition to the list of drug personalities.
NBI 7 Special Investigator Arnel Pura also brought to Gicale's attention a portion in the pre-operation report classifying Disomundeg as a subject instead of an informant.
But Monterroyo said he got reports that the latter was a drug supplier before he met him.
For his part, Sanchez explained that the pre-operation report was dated Aug. 12 because it was unclear yet when Disomundeg would give vital information to the policeman.
So, Sanchez said he advised Monterroyo to prepare another pre-operation report once significant information would crop up in the deal. MEA/OCP/GC/CYR
(October 3, 2003 issue)
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