Anti-crime crusaders slam report vs Golez, Saycon

An organization of victims of crime and corruption said it was "highly disgusted" with the "irresponsible" allegations by a fugitive senior police official that National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and Pastor "Boy" Saycon, secretary general of the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA), masterminded the killing of an Army officer last year.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said accusations by Superintendent Rafael Cardeño against Golez and Saycon were "highly incredulous."

Meanwhile, a ranking police official yesterday denied the existence of a police report pointing to Golez and Saycon as responsible for the death of Sgt. Baron Cervantes on Dec. 31, 2001.

In a statement, the VACC said Golez and then Philippine National Police chief superintendent Reynaldo Berroya were other targets of assassination as revealed by Joseph Mostrales.

"These serious allegations are glaringly delaying and diversionary tactics posed by Cardeño and his legal advisers in retaliation to the very strong testimony of self-confessed gunman Joseph Mostrales who positively identified him as the crime mastermind," the VACC statement said.

Deputy Director General Nestorio Gualberto said the police were standing by the results of their investigation, tagging fugitive Cardeño as responsible for the killing of Cervantes.

Implicated in the killing by the Mostrales, Cardeño had claimed that Gualberto’s unit, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police, had found out that Golez and Saycon were involved.

But the CIDG report –which Cardeño referred to as the Gualberto report –was "suppressed," according to Cardeño lawyer Homobono Adaza.

Gualberto said there was no such report. "I did not sign any report to that effect. It is just (Cardeño’s) ploy, a diversionary tactic."

"If there is anyone who should be held responsible, reference should be had with the Gualberto report of the CIDG, which points to his employer (Golez) and no less than Saycon as the ones responsible in the killing," Cardeño said in his affidavit to the Department of Justice.

President Arroyo recently cut ties with COPA and branded them as "termites" for constantly criticizing her administration.

Stung by Mrs. Arroyo’s remark, Saycon relinquished his post as board member of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

Cervantes, a self-styled spokesman for the Young Officers Union – an association of reformist military officers – had claimed in December 2001 that COPA was disgruntled with the Arroyo administration and was planning a coup, a charge COPA denied.

Shortly thereafter Cervantes was gunned down at pointblank range in Pamplona, Las Piñas City, and died before reaching a nearby hospital.

His lawyer, Homobono Adaza, had urged senior state prosecutor Theodore Villanueva and state prosecutor Mark Jalandoni to summon Golez and Saycon to give their side.

He also asked the prosecutors to subpoena Gualberto and compel him to produce the report which, he said, "has been suppressed and hidden to the public and the prosecution, which amounts to suppression of evidence."

Golez dismissed Cardeño’s claim as "sick, sinister and deplorable and true to his form."

Saycon, on the other hand, dismissed Cardeño’s "foolish accusations" and added he would welcome any investigation. "The truth will eventually come out and justice will be served," he said.

Cervantes’ lawyer, Leonard de Vera, said Cardeño’s affidavit was just a "scrap of paper" because it was not sworn before any of the investigating prosecutors – a substantial legal requirement – but before a notary public.

Villanueva, however, said the document has been "provisionally admitted" and told De Vera to include his protests in his reply to Cardeño’s affidavit.

Aside from Cardeño and Mostrales, six others were also accused in the killing.

In his affidavit, Mostrales, a former Marine sergeant, said he recalled Cardeño saying that Cervantes had become a "hindrance" to their cause.

Golez said he had asked his lawyers to "study Cardeño’s statements as conveyed by his lawyer to see if there is any ground for a libel case."

"I just wish that Cardeño now slither out of his deep, dark hideout and issue statements in the open," he said.