7 jail guards face raps over Al-Ghozi escape

The Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military recommended yesterday the filing of criminal charges against seven members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group for their alleged involvement in the escape of slain terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi last July 14.

Deputy Ombudsman for Military Orlando Casimiro said there is probable cause to criminally charge Superintendents Reuben Galban, Carlito Natanuan, Guillermo Danipog, Inspector James Dime, Senior Police Officer 3 Ruperto Principe Jr., PO2 George Domingo and PO1 Ronald Palmares for the escape.

Casimiro said all the seven police officers are liable for "infidelity in the custody of prisoners," more particularly "as conniving with or consenting to evasion" as defined by Article 223 of the Revised Penal Code.

The military Ombudsman also recommended the filing of additional charge of falsification of public documents against Dime who was the officer tasked to inspect all detainees inside the PNP-IG headquarters in Camp Crame and custodian of the holding facility logbook containing the list of detainees and their status.

The Ombudsman, however, recommended the dismissal of charges of falsification against Principe, Camp and Palmares for insufficiency of evidence to establish probable cause.

In a 15-page resolution, Casimiro approved the recommendation of Ombudsman lawyer Bienvenido Blancaflor to charge the seven policemen before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

The charges stemmed from alleged non-performance of their duties as stated in the PNP-IG Holding Facility Operating Manuel and the police Standard Operating Procedures 2003-56-04, detailing their responsibilities as custodians of the detainees.

Blancaflor cited several instances when the seven policemen allegedly neglected to perform their duty and gave Al-Ghozi the opportunity to escape.

Al-Ghozi, a self-confessed Indonesian bomb-maker of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network, and two Abu Sayyaf members Abdulmukim Edris and Omar Opik Lasal escaped from their detention cell at Camp Crame last July 14.

Al-Ghozi was then facing trial for the December 2000 Rizal Day bombings after he was convicted and sentenced to 17 years imprisonment for illegal possession of explosives.

Almost a month after their escape, Edris was killed after he fired at lawmen manning a road checkpoint in Lanao del Norte on Aug. 7.

Lasal was later captured by military intelligence at a roadblock in Zamboanga del Sur and Al-Ghozi was separately killed during an encounter in North Cotabato after three months in hiding.

The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), then headed by Director Eduardo Matillano, immediately filed criminal charges against Dime, Principe and Palmares who were on duty at the time of the escape.

The charges were submitted for review before the military Ombudsman and Blancaflor recommended the filing of charges before the court.