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Sunday, March 19, 2006
Cops, fiscal hit for kidnap suspects' release
CEBU CITY -- The immediate release of the four suspected members of a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) group who were arrested at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport last March 5 should have taught the authority lessons to strengthen its inter-agencies' line of communications.
Anti-kidnapping crusader Teresita Ang-See pointed out Saturday the lapses committed by the authorities, not only the police but the prosecutors as well, in handling the case of the suspected KFR gang members.
Brothers Jessie and Ronald Pepino, Richard Orayan and Crisologo Puzon were released on March 7 after posting P10,000 bail each for charges of usurpation of authority, while the police were still in the process of verifying information that the four were members of a KFR gang.
The confirmation came later, after the police got the information from See.
"I was furious when I found out that they were released. There was a lapse in the local police, they have to admit that and they have to address that... How come the fiscal just released them so fast? How come the fiscal, knowing that an Armalite (rifle) was found in the car, knowing that airport is a very, very critical place, and they were only charged with usurpation?" See said.
See, the founding president of Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran and the founding chairperson of the Movement for Restoration on Peace and Order, was in Cebu City as one of the resource speakers in the forum on community security awareness and action on kidnap for ransom held yesterday morning at the Casino Español de Cebu.
The forum was also attended by Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Robert Go, Police Deputy Regional Director for Administration (DRDA) Ronald Roderos, Police Deputy Regional Director for Operations Lani-o Nerez and Senior Superintendent Tom Bañes, deputy director for operations of Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response (Pacer) and members of the CCCI.
See, however, clarified that the forum Saturday was already scheduled and was not an offshoot to the reported kidnapping of a Manila-based businessman who has properties and a factory in Cebu. The payoff was reportedly foiled because of the arrest of the four suspects.
See said the thrust of the forum was to be able to link the community with the police for a very active synergism and partnership in addressing problems such as kidnapping.
During a press conference, See said the local police authority should have immediately conducted background checks on the arrested suspects whom she described to be not just an ordinary "fly by night criminals" but members of a syndicated group.
"People who are so brazen and so daring to enter an airport carrying firearms and fake IDs (identification cards) are not a simple fly by night criminals. These have backgrounds. The lapse was -- do they check immediately with the records, do these people have other outstanding cases? One agency that they fail to contact is the local NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) who were responsible for the arrest of the Pepinos from the very beginning in Manila," she said.
Despite the lapses of the authority, See was still thankful because it served as a wake up call and a learning experience for the police authority.
She hopes that instead of blaming with each other, the authority should move forward and continue the manhunt to re-arrest the suspects.
"The lapse was the getting of information. There are lots of what ifs, so let us move forward from here. Let us not just keep on blaming," she said.
Bañes, Nerez and Roderos, however, said there were coordination made with the Pacer and the directorate for investigation and detective management (DIDM) in Camp Crame right after the arrest of the four suspects.
Nerez, however, said they were "overtaken by the time" until the release of the four suspects.
The Pacer-Manila, in particular, Bañes said, after being informed by its counterpart in Central Visayas immediately made a background check. After failing to get information from their case files, they inquired from See for confirmation in the evening of March 7.
In this regard, See suggested for the law enforcement agencies that there should be a "more smooth transition of pending cases" to the successors of designated task force heads for easy retrieval of information.
See said she was the one who has the "institutional memory" because she has been into the crusade since 1993.
See said the Pepino brothers -- Jerry, Jessie and Reynaldo, had a kidnapping case in 1997 and another one in 1998 and have convictions of death penalty in absentia.
On the forum Saturday, Go announced that the business sector and the police have agreed to come up with a hotline for easy coordination when incidents occur such as kidnapping.
Tips on how to prevent kidnappings and how to report such were also given during the forum Saturday.
Go said the forum got a positive response from the members who felt more comfortable and encourage more to report to the authorities.
"To keep Cebu as the best place to live in with the quality of life. We don't want that to be besmirched and we don't want to be blackened by any untoward events," Go said. (Jovy S. Taghoy/Sun.Star Cebu)
(March 19, 2006 issue)
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