Thursday, April 20, 2006
Chiefs 'framed' cop in Bantay Dagat exec's slay
CEBU CITY -- For Cebu Provincial Police Chief Vicente Loot, it's a fishing expedition packed with "foolish remarks."
Loot objected Wednesday to insinuations that he, Senior Superintendent Jose Corpuz and Talisay City Police Chief Romeo Perigo have allegedly framed Senior Police Officer 1 Marcial Ocampo to protect Loot's fishing business in Bantayan Island.
"I don't think it is professional to insinuate such a thing," Loot said in a radio interview, reacting to statements attributed to lawyer Vicente Fernandez II. "Let's just do our jobs and not make personal attacks."
Ocampo, Fernandez's client, was sent to the Talisay City detention center Wednesday. No bail was set.
Ocampo and three others, so far unidentified, were charged Wednesday with the murder of Bantay Dagat official Elpidio "Jojo" dela Victoria.
But in an interview, Ocampo said he was a victim of a "frame-up" by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Central Visayas, which Corpuz heads. They "invited" him last Monday, only to arrest him at the headquarters after witnesses allegedly identified him as the gunman.
Interrogated
"I hope their conscience bothers them for dragging me into this," Ocampo said.
He referred to five male witnesses, including a cabbie, who have identified him as the man who shot dela Victoria outside the latter's home in San Roque, Talisay City, last April 12.
The 42-year-old Ocampo, a member of the Minglanilla Police Station, shook his head and broke into tears when he professed his innocence.
A crowd, including government workers and curious onlookers, gathered outside the Talisay City Prosecutor's Office just to catch a glimpse of Ocampo.
Until Wednesday morning, the police tried to conduct a tactical interrogation on Ocampo, hoping to extract any information that would lead to the mastermind, said Corpuz.
On the allegation that there was no legal basis to arrest Ocampo because of there was no warrant of arrest, Corpuz, in a press conference, said: "That's for the court to decide."
Should Ocampo decide to cooperate with the police investigation and reveal who the mastermind was, Corpuz said that might mitigate the case against the policeman.
'Scalawag'
Ocampo, for his part, is contemplating a libel complaint against Superintendent Augusto Marquez Jr., chief of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division, for tagging him as "a typical example of a police scalawag" during a presentation last Tuesday.
"How can he (Marquez) call me a scalawag when I accomplished a lot? He just wants to make matters worse for me," Ocampo told reporters.
Marquez, when called up to comment on Ocampo's plan, retorted, "What does he want me to call him? Hero? Murderer? I've based my statements on government records."
The commitment order that sent Ocampo to detention Wednesday preempted the hearing of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by his wife.
One of his lawyers, Vicente Fernandez II, immediately filed a motion for Ocampo's transfer to another detention center, preferably the National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas.
Academic
"When he (Ocampo) was still active with Task Force Banat and Task Force Sinaligan, he had arrested or caused the arrest of several persons, who may still be detained in said detention facility (Talisay), which may pose a threat to his security," Fernandez explained.
Regional Trial Court Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. previously scheduled a hearing Wednesday afternoon for the writ of habeas corpus.
A writ of habeas corpus is a court order that directs the authority that has detained a person to produce the detainee, while the court examines whether that prisoner was legally committed.
But lawyer Fritz Quiñanola, the private prosecutor representing the dela Victoria family, said the petition should be deemed moot and academic, considering that Ocampo has already been committed.
Lawyer Hector Fernandez, who represented Ocampo in lieu of his son Vicente at the habeas corpus hearing, said he intends to have the commitment order recalled.
Judge Dumdum asked both parties to submit their memoranda in five days.
Hector Fernandez also asked that CIDG's Corpuz and his deputy, Chief Inspector Rex Derilo, be cited in contempt for failing to bring Ocampo to court.
The CIDG, which took custody of Ocampo since his arrest last Monday, was expected to turn over the policeman to the Talisay City Jail yesterday afternoon. (JGA/GC/JST/AIV/Sun.Star Cebu)
(April 20, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
Arroyo certifies as urgent bill repealing death penalty