PNP: Ambush on witness vs Ping done by professional hitmen

An Indian national who once testified on opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s alleged ties to a kidnap gang survived an assassination attempt that police said was carried out by professional hitmen.

Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, said the bullet holes on businessman Dharma Devnani’s rental car indicated that the gunmen were not amateurs.

"There was a clustering of bullet holes," he told The STAR. "Their shots were close to one another. This is despite the fact that they were moving and they also had a moving target."

Investigators found seven bullet holes in the right rear window and one in the left backseat.

Asked by police investigators if he had an idea who wanted him dead, Devnani said: "It is very hard to tell the names but I can feel who could be behind this ambush."

Devnani, 44, told a Senate inquiry last year that Lacson, deposed president Joseph Estrada, Estrada son and former San Juan mayor Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, alleged illegal gambling lord Charlie "Atong" Ang and several police officials had ties with the Kuratong Baleleng kidnap gang.

Armed men in a black van drove up from behind Devnani’s rental car and fired several shots as he neared Coastal Mall on President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard at around 9:15 p.m., police said.

Devnani’s driver, George Sanchez, 36, ducked and tried to speed away and was ordered by Devnani, seated in the front passenger seat, to proceed to Heritage Hotel, where he was supposed to meet friends.

Both men were not hurt. Devnani called the police when he got to the hotel in Pasay City.

Investigators searched the highway for bullet shells the following morning

A police officer, SPO2 Carlos Rotuni, recalled that Devnani went to their station last year and reported that armed men were following him.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina Jr. said the assassination attempt may be connected to Devnani’s decision to testify against Estrada.

"We well cannot immediately conclude what was the motive behind the ambush but all angles have to be looked into, and one of the angles is revenge or to silence him completely," he said.

Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police, said Devnani will be given police protection.

"In this predicament, it is important that we secure him so we will secure him," Ebdane said.

Lacson and several other ranking police officials were accused of summarily executing 11 Kuratong Baleleng gang members in May 1995.

The gang members were killed in what police said was a predawn highway shootout along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

However, a police officer, SPO4 Ed delos Reyes, shortly accused Lacson of ordering the rubout.

Lacson was then head of a police task force of the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, headed by then vice president Joseph Estrada.

In 1999, a Quezon City regional trial court dismissed the rubout charges against Lacson and others, citing lack of probable cause.

In 2001, the Department of Justice sought a new case after finding two new witnesses but defense lawyers got an order from the Court of Appeals to stop a reopening of the case.

In a bid to reopen the case, in 2002 government lawyers went to the Supreme Court, where the motion remains pending. — With Mike Frialde