Police eye US help in Archival's slay

CEBU, Philippines - The special task force investigating the killing of lawyer Noel Archival and two of his staff plans to seek the technical assistance of the United States Homeland Security and the Interpol to enhance the security footages showing the vehicles used by the gunmen during the ambush in Barangay Coro, Dalaguete two weeks ago.

For the first time, Cebu Provincial Police Office director Noel Gillamac admitted that the police are having a hard time identifying the plate numbers of the vehicles used by the assailants.

Gillamac, who heads the Special Investigation Task Group Archival, said the footages taken from a closed circuit television camera positioned along the national highway in Poblacion, Dalaguete are blurred.

The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group is yet to have the capability to enhance the video.

Gillamac said he will wait for the National Bureau of Investigation to come up with its own findings before formally asking help from the US Homeland Security and the Interpol.

He explained that the NBI might have the capability to enhance the footage. Gillamac said the CCTV footages contain very sensitive information regarding the ambush of Archival.

According to Gillamac, an NBI official visited his office last Monday to discuss their investigation and exchanged notes.

Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, lawyer's brother, also visited Gillamac to personally express his gratitude to the police.

The Land Transportation Office-7 is also having trouble identifying the vehicles because there are more than 200 motor vehicles registered in Central Visayas that matched with the description and possible plate combinations with that of the ones used by the killers.

Acting LTO-7 director Arnel Tancinco said that on the day Archival and his aides were ambushed, Police Regional Office-7 requested for their assistance to identify the getaway vehicles.

"The problem is the question of confidentiality because they were asking all the records of all motor vehicles having the same description, plate combination and particular number combination nga ilang makita," Tancinco said.

The LTO, an attached agency to the Department of Transportation and Communications, has a standing contract with information technology provider Stradcom Corp. which has the responsibility to keep records confidential.

 "Since we have those documents, under the regulation also, we cannot officially divulge the identity or the details of all motor vehicles without particularity or without specific reasons," Tancinco said.

Tancinco said that about 200 pages containing one or two motor vehicles each in the system having the same description and having the same plate combination registered in Region-7.

But he said the LTO cannot officially give the details of all these motor vehicles as requested by the police without the approval of Stradcom Corp.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Board has requested the NBI-7 officials to appear on Monday during its regular session to brief the members on the progress of the investigation.

The resolution sponsored by Board Member Arleigh Sitoy was passed last Monday.

The board also condemned the killing of Archival, his driver Alejandro Jaime, and aide Edu Miñoza.

The victims were on their way home to Cebu City from a court hearing in Dumaguete City when the unidentified armed men fired upon their vehicle upon reaching Barangay Coro, Dalaguete.

Another member of Archival's staff, Paulo Cortes, survived in the ambush.  (FREEMAN)