Inquiry on cops’ links to Pentagon reopened

Two police officials were ordered investigated anew yesterday by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. for their alleged ties to the notorious Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Superintendents William Dangane and Efren Alquizar were previously accused of providing protection to the gang, led by Faisal Marohombsar, who was gunned down by combined police and military teams in Magallanes, Cavite last Sunday.

Ebdane ordered Director Lucas Managuelod, chief of the PNP’s directorate for investigation and detection management, to reopen the probe.

"Insofar as this controversy is concerned, I look at it as the PNP chief. We have to weigh all matters from the side of Alquizar and Dangane, and we are compiling all the records, and find out what is really on the ground," Ebdane said.

"We are reviving the administrative charges against them on the same case," Managuelod told reporters.

Meanwhile, an irate Deputy Director Rex Piad cried foul over attempts to implicate him and former PNP chief and now Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza into the mess.

"It is a big b.s., there’s no truth to that. It is baseless," Piad said, adding that the issue was recycled by the present national police leadership. He added he was ready to face any inquiry.

Piad refused to comment if the efforts to revive the accusation linking Mendoza to the Pentagon gang was an attempt to block Mendoza’s confirmation by Congress.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson and administration Sen. Noli de Castro filed separate resolutions the other day seeking a probe into the alleged links of Marohombsar to some PNP officers.

The two senators sought the probe following reports that an intelligence brief prepared by former Southern Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano named at least three active police officials as protectors of Marohombsar and other members of the Pentagon gang.

Piad challenged Matillano to present proof linking him to the kidnap gang, considered a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.

"Before he opens his mouth, he should first make sure that his accusations have any basis. It should be based on facts and figures, not hearsay," he said.

Lacson, himself a former PNP chief, did not name the PNP officials but during a Senate hearing on the Pentagon gang in February, top police officials claimed Dangane – a member of a special anti-kidnapping task force – was a protector of the Pentagon gang.

De Castro said the probe would give the police officers the opportunity to air their side.

Supporting the Senate investigation, Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda said the police protectors should be identified for the government’s anti-crime campaign to make headway.

Legarda said Matillano’s 31-page intelligence report should be made public "so that it will have names and faces."

While senators supported an inquiry into the incident, they also agreed that the Senate probe whether the successful rescue operation for Chung was meant to silence Marohombsar.

The PNP had reiterated that Marohombsar died in the clash when he opened fire on the lawmen and soldiers.

Police officers involved in the joint police-military operation said they did not even know that the man who was shot by T/Sgt. Willy Madayag was Marohombsar until they inspected his wallet.

"We only knew that the one who was killed in the encounter was Marohombsar was when we saw in his wallet a safe conduct pass signed by (Army Maj.) Gen. Alberto Braganza," said a police officer, who asked not to be named.

The PNP Crime Laboratory at Camp Crame also denied that Marohombsar bore a slash wound in the neck and that the bruises he bore could have been caused by a number of normal causes.

"There was no slash in the neck," PNP Crime Laboratory chief Senior Superintendent Restituto Mosqueda told reporters.

"The bruises are normal for a person who fell, especially if he is (fatally) hit by a bullet and undergoing final spasms. The abrasions were measured at only 0.6 cm. It was very minimal," Mosqueda said, adding that the bruises could also have been caused by the bamboo sled on which the slain Marohombsar was placed after the gunfight.

Mosqueda also said the slain gang leader tested positive for gunpowder burns, indicating that he indeed shot it out with lawmen. — Christina Mendez