Calimlim, other ISAFP officers sued for Bulacan treasure hunt

Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim, the Armed Forces' intelligence chief and head of the anti-smuggling Task Force Aduana, is facing a damage suit, along with some officers of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), for treasure hunting on a private property.

In a P380,000-damage suit filed with the Quezon City regional trial court yesterday, the landowner, businessman Dante Legaspi, and lawyer Paul Gutierrez asked the court to order Calimlim to stop digging in Legaspi's property in Barangay Bigte, Norzagaray, Bulacan.

The two complainants, represented by lawyer Homobono Adaza, accused Calimlim of encamping on the property without their knowledge and consent sometime last November.

Also named respondents in the damage suit were retired Col. Ciriaco Reyes and ISAFP officers Lt. Col. David Miciano and a certain Maj. Tejarez.

The ISAFP officers, according to Adaza, led a force of 80 heavily armed men from the Presidential Security Group, the ISAFP and Task Force Aduana who cordoned off the property and barred its owners from entering.

The group is hunting for a treasure trove supposedly buried in Legaspi's property by Japanese forces as World War II was nearing its end.

The treasure trove supposedly consists of a Golden Buddha studded with diamonds, a golden dragon from China, a golden tiger with diamond eyes and gold bars.

"The military personnel are encamped in the area in tents and foxholes and armed with high-powered weapons like M-16 Armalites, M203 grenade launchers and two M60 machineguns," Adaza said.

"There is no other reason for the deployment of troops but to intimidate my clients and the people in the neighborhood into submission," he added.

The complainants identified some of the military men deployed in the area as one Lt. Alba and Sergeants Balon and Batin of ISAFP, Sgt. Paredes of PSG, M/Sgt. Moya of Task Force Aduana, and Sergeants Caragdag and Malon of the Army Special Forces.

The complainants said Reyes and Calimlim entered into a sharing agreement over the proceeds of the hunt.