Faisal’s wife willing to name ‘padrinos’

The wife of slain Pentagon kidnap gang leader Fai-sal Marohombsar vowed yesterday to tell all about her husband’s coddlers in the military and police who enabled him to perpetrate his criminal activities.

Bai Anora Marohombsar told a select group of journalists that she would unmask her husband’s "protectors," or padrinos in police parlance, after traditional prayers for his death are over.

"Handa akong magsalita, pero di pa ngayon, kasi ’di pa tapos ang mga padasal para kay Fai (I am ready to talk, but not now because the prayers for Fai are not yet over)," the widow said.

She said she believed that Marohombsar was deliberately killed to prevent him from identifying his connections in the police and military organizations.

Anora also said on the eve of his death, her husband called on the phone to inform her that the stage was set for his surrender through Army Maj. Gen. Alberto Braganza.

She added that she was convinced her slain husband did not have anything to do with the kidnapping of Patricia Anne Lopez Chung, scion of the wealthy Lopez clan of Manila, and her nanny. The victims were safely recovered shortly before Marohombsar was killed in a shootout with combined elements of crack military and police units in Magallanes town in Cavite last Sunday.

A relative of Marohombsar, who requested anonymity, said they now fear for the life of Mrs. Marohombsar for having known too much about Faisal’s "unholy alliance" with certain police and military officials.

Meanwhile, Sen. Noli de Castro underscored the significance of pursuing the Senate inquiry on the alleged tieup between unscrupulous policemen and soldiers with criminal elements, notably kidnap for ransom syndicates.

"It does not necessarily mean that with the death of Marohombsar, the truth should die with him," De Castro said in a statement. "These are serious allegations that need intensive investigation."

De Castro filed Senate Resolution 417 seeking a legislative probe on Marohombsar’s alleged links with some PNP officials. "It was improper for the investigation to be set aside simply because Marohombsar is dead."

De Castro also expressed belief that Malacañang would not hide the truth or suppress it by quashing the call for the Senate probe.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has placed under investigation two police officials for their alleged ties with the dreaded Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Superintendents William Dangane and Efren Alquizar were previously accused of protecting the gang.

"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 to find out what is really on the ground," he said.

"We are reviving the administrative charges against them on the same case," said Director Lucas Managuelod, head of the PNP’s directorate for investigation and detection management.

Deputy Director Rex Piad cried foul over the move to drag 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 rehashed by the present national police leadership. He added he was ready to face any inquiry.