Fusillero's three security men may face criminal, admin raps

Criminal and administrative charges will be filed against the three provincial policemen, who were detailed as close-in security men of retired police general Tiburcio Fusillero, according to the City Police's security and service group chief Mariano Natuel yesterday.

Natuel said the filing of the charges may be done after the Holy Week observance, and currently his office is still consolidating the various complaints of the farmers of the mountain barangays against SPO1 Rudy Estrada, PO3 Rolando Agujar, and PO2 Jessie Tibalan.

At least 21 farmers in barangays Tabunan, Pung-ol Sibugay, Taptap, and Tagbao have filed complaints at the SSG office accusing the three policemen of demolishing their houses and killing their cattle.

The complaints were against the three policemen only, which means that Fusillero will be spared from the charges, even if there were insinuations that he was behind the onslaught of the farmers there, Natuel clarified.

Natuel further said that no formal investigations were conducted yet against the three policemen but Estrada recently appeared at the SSG office to deny the allegations. All of them will be summoned however next week to shed light on the case, said the SSG chief.

Natuel also confirmed that while the conflict is yet unresolved, the city government, through councilor Jun Pe, sent a patrol car and ammunition to the area and ordered the dispatch of six more policemen to guard the area.

Provincial Police director Vicente Loot, on the other hand, already ordered the recall of the assignments of the three policemen and placed them under camp restriction. This will make them available in the investigation that Natuel will be conducting, he said.

But SPO3 Genaro Harboda, the admin officer of the Provincial Security Services Group, yesterday said that, as soon as receives a copy of the order, he will immediately work for the termination of the assignments of these policemen as Fusillero's close-in security.

This conflict in the city's four mountain barangays, arose when the farmers sought to revoke a memorandum of agreement between Fusillero and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the rehabilitation of 504-hectare forestland under the adopt-a-mountain program. - Flor Z. Perolina