Family of missing PAOCTF agent urged to file case

The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged yesterday the family of missing policeman SPO1 Rogelio Brusas to file a formal complaint regarding his disappearance to pave the way for an official investigation.

Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, director of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), admitted that the disappearance of Brusas, a former member of his unit, remained a mystery to the PNP hierarchy.

"I am urging SPO1 Brusas’ mother, Magdalena, to file an official complaint before us or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and we will conduct an impartial probe," Gualberto said.

The Brusas family has sought the assistance of President Arroyo to trace Rogelio, who reportedly disappeared on March 14 last year after receiving a call from his superiors to go to the Camelot Hotel in Quezon City.

Mrs. Brusas, 68, lamented that after a futile search of over a year, they have found no clues leading to her son’s whereabouts.

Attempts to solicit the assistance of Rogelio’s superiors at the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) where he belonged at the time of his disappearance, also led nowhere as the Brusas family got only empty promises.

Worse, they were even warned against bringing their plight to the media.

Prior to his disappearance, the victim allegedly confided to his wife that he had wanted to return to his mother unit, the CIDG, since he could not obey unlawful orders from his superiors.

Brusas allegedly told his wife that he has been ordered to liquidate NBI agent Martin Soriano who whipped up a controversy by blowing the whistle on the alleged links of some of NBI agents to big-time drug traffickers.

Brusas’ former colleagues refused to talk to The STAR, even as Gualberto gave assurances that he will officially summon erstwhile PAOCTF members to shed light on the case once a formal complaint has been filed.

The Brusas family linked Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, to Rogelio’s disappearance.

On the other hand, Rogelio’s immediate superior, Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao, head of the PAOCTF office in Luzon, ordered the missing operative marked AWOL (absent without official leave).

Aquino allegedly called up Brusas on the night of March 14, directing the latter to go to the Camelot Hotel for a mission.

"It was not a lady agent who called up my brother. It was actually Michael Ray Aquino," Brusas’ younger sister Evelyn told The STAR.

The Brusas family expressed hope that the renewed interest of the PNP hierarchy and the media in the case would ultimately bring justice to them.

"We want to know what really happened to him. We won’t have peace within our hearts and soul unless we determine this," the 68-year-old mother said.

The family said they were ready to accept any fate that might have befallen Rogelio. –Jaime Laude