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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Military spy's lover disputes 'detention' claim
MANILA -- The charge of serious illegal detention lodged by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) against former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Samuel Ong and other members of the opposition suffered a setback Monday.
A girlfriend of Technical Sergeant Vidal Doble said Monday the intelligence agent was not at all held against his will.
Doble is an agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp), and tagged by Ong as the one who gave him the master tapes containing the alleged wiretapped conversation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and an election official believed to be former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
At the first preliminary hearing Monday at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Marietta Santos belied claims of the CIDG in its complaint that she was one of the complainants against Ong, his driver Angelito Santiago, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, and actor Rez Cortez.
"I categorically state that I am not a complainant (in the serious illegal detention case). I did not and am not filing any complaint against any of the above-named respondents, or any person, for events which transpired on the long weekend of June 10 to 13, 2005," Santos said.
Santos was with Doble during his entire stay at the San Carlos Seminary, where he was allegedly detained by the camp of Ong. She appeared in Monday's hearing on the basis of a subpoena she received as one of the complainants.
But in her affidavit, she said contrary to claims of Doble that they were restrained by Ong's men, she and Doble were "free to move around and do as we pleased."
"At no instance were we ever detained or restrained of our liberty, by any of the above-named respondents, any person acting under them," she said.
The CIDG claimed Binay was included in the charge sheet because he was the one who allegedly kept Doble from leaving the seminary. Doble was "rescued" by government forces from the seminary and was made to initially stay at the Isafp compound in Camp Aguinaldo.
Binay asked the DOJ to drop his name from the charge sheet because the CIDG was just making conclusions about his participation in an alleged plan to detain Doble by relying on hearsay.
He said he is thinking of filing counter-suits against Doble and the CIDG saying that the government appeared to be "coaching" its witnesses to harass and discredit opposition figures.
Doble, who is still under the custody of the Isafp, was whisked away by his escorts before he could speak to the media. (ECV/Sunnex)
(August 9, 2005 issue)
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