NBI raids printing firm producing anti-GMA materials

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided a printing press in Quezon City that was allegedly producing posters depicting President Arroyo as a fictional villain resembling the Greek mythological creature Medusa.

NBI Interpol chief Ricardo Diaz said several employees of the Always Graphic and Printing Service were arrested and could face charges of unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances. He did not say how many were arrested.

Authorities were still looking for the firm’s owner, who Diaz said may be slapped with charges of inciting to sedition if he is involved in reported efforts by the political opposition to undermine the Arroyo administration.

NBI agents swooped down on the printing press, located in Project 3 in Quezon City, at around 3 p.m.

Employees were busy preparing their next printing job, which included posters depicting Mrs. Arroyo as local superhero Darna. Stacks of posters portraying the President as "Valentina," the local version of Medusa, were also found.

The administration claims opposition members loyal to deposed President Joseph Estrada are trying to undermine the government with allegations that Mrs. Arroyo cheated in last year’s elections and that her family took bribes from illegal gambling barons.

Calls have been mounting for Mrs. Arroyo to confirm or deny that it was she who was illegally taped talking to an election official about rigging last year’s presidential election.

Yesterday, military intelligence operative T/Sgt. Vidal Doble took police investigators to a restaurant and a hotel in Quezon City, where he was allegedly paid P2 million to spy on Mrs. Arroyo’s phone conversations.

"The reenactments were meant to establish, strengthen and enhance the information Doble had revealed in his affidavit early last week to investigators," said Chief Superintendent Asher Dolina, chief of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Dolina added the reenactment was "essential to aid investigators in determining the physical possibility of the events described by Doble in his statement."

Doble stated in his affidavit to the police that he was paid P2 million by Samuel Ong, a former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director, to attest to the authenticity of the tape of wiretapped conversations allegedly between Mrs. Arroyo and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano that Ong claimed he had obtained.

Doble also claimed the money came from Laarni Enriquez, one of Estrada’s former mistresses. Enriquez has denied the allegation.

Yesterday, Doble took investigators to Borromeo Grill, a restaurant where he had met with Ong sometime last April between 8 and 9 a.m.

Doble said he was brought there by an NBI photographer, Angelito Santiago. Doble was allegedly accompanied by his brother Reynaldo and girlfriend Marietta Santos.

A few minutes later a Chinese-looking man carrying a package joined them.

They later proceeded to nearby Imperial Hotel and went to a room on the fifth floor. There, Ong showed Doble pictures of his family, which Doble took as a veiled threat.

Ong gave him a black bag containing the money, telling him it came from Enriquez, and saying it was payment in exchange for owning up to the audiotape.

They then proceeded to a room on the seventh floor, where Santiago recorded a video message of Doble claiming he had eavesdropped and taped Mrs. Arroyo’s purported phone conversations.

Dolina declined to comment on the reenactment, saying he had to confer with other investigators. PNP chief Arturo Lomibao said, however, that it was clear that Doble had been coerced.

Officials say Doble was kidnapped by Ong to back his tape exposé. Ong denies the charge.

The Department of Justice is waiting for the results of the police investigation, which Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said will determine the charges to be filed against Ong.

Meanwhile, NBI Interpol chief Diaz said Santiago hasn’t been reporting to work for the past days and is being investigated. — With Cecille Suerte-Felipe, Christina Mendez