PNP chief: Manhunt for Cardeno still on

Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza is not about to call off the manhunt for Superintendent Rafael Cardeno, the alleged mastermind in the murder of Baron Cervantes, despite claims by the wanted man’s lawyer that it was unlawful.

In a chance interview yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo where he attended the ceremonial changing of the guard in the military leadership, Mendoza said any active member of the PNP implicated in criminal activities must be placed under police custody.

Cardeno, who has gone AWOL (absent without official leave), is founding chairman of the Young Officers’ Union (YOU), while Cervantes was the group’s self-styled spokesman.

At Malacañang, officials said Cardeño will be given due process and that it was lamentable that he had prejudged the government in its impartiality.

"That is unfortunate. He should not prejudge this administration. He will be given due process," acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said, reacting to reports that Cardeño will only come out of hiding when a new president is elected into office.

Mendoza said the police have to account for Cardeño when his name was linked to the murder.

"Nang mag-surface yung pangalan niya (when his name came out), automatically we have to account for him," Mendoza said, adding this was "SOP" (standard operating procedure) when a member of the PNP is being indicted or suspected of involvement in a crime.

He said that as a matter of procedure, "immediately what we do is disarm, and of course, see to it that he can’t do intimidation or harassment (on) probable witnesses or other suspects."

Mendoza clarified that the manhunt order is only to keep track of Cardeño, who is a regular member of the PNP.

"I understand fully the meaning of the law particularly on the matter of arrest and investigation; but nobody can deter us from accounting (for) our men, and from inviting suspects for investigation," he said, reacting to the statement of Cardeño’s lawyer Homobono Adaza that the PNP order was a gross violation of the Constitution.

Adaza the other day assailed the PNP for ordering a nationwide manhunt for his client even without appropriate charges being filed.

He reiterated that Cardeño is not in hiding and that he is willing to face any investigation. Adaza was at Camp Crame Friday to officially lodge his complaint for he what he described as Mendoza’s unlawful manhunt order.

"We are not a police state nor under conditions of martial law or national emergency that you could, without courting criminal liability, order a manhunt for my client on the mere say so of any individual without filing the necessary case before our courts of law and securing a warrant of arrest," Adaza said in his letter to Mendoza.

Adaza explained that the proper thing to do is to file the necessary complaint before the proper agencies of government so his client will have the opportunity to air his side.

"If there’s a manhunt for you, then so be it. As I’ve said he’s an active member of the PNP, he knows his accountabilities and responsibilities and obligations," Mendoza said.

The PNP is set to file murder charges tomorrow against Cardeño and six other people in connection with the murder of Cervantes on Dec. 31, 2001 in front of a convenience store along the Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas.

Alleged assassin former Marine Sgt. Joseph Mostrales claimed Cardeño hired him to kill Cervantes, who had revealed a purported coup plot by the shadowy YOU against the Arroyo administration.

Cervantes had also linked Cardeno to alleged anomalies at the Land Transportation Office.

Mostrales, a former security detail of ousted President Joseph Estrada, was nabbed Saturday in Umingan, Pangasinan for his alleged involvement in kidnapping for ransom activities. — Jaime Laude, Jose Rodel Clapano, Artemio Dumlao