‘Erap 5’ file criminal charges vs arresting military, police teams

The so-called "Erap 5" who were arrested on suspicion of being communist hit men last May 22 filed criminal charges against the arresting military and police members and their chiefs before the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday.

In the complaint, the five members of the Union of the Masses for Democracy and Justice (UMDJ), a group associated with deposed President Joseph Estrada, filed charges of arbitrary detention, unlawful arrest and maltreatment of prisoners against the heads of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), the Military Intelligence Group 15 (MIG 15) and members of the arresting teams.

Virgilio Eustaquio, Ruben Dionisio, Dennis Ibona, Jim Cabuatan and Quezon City policeman PO3 Jose Curameng also included grave threat, incriminatory machinations, robbery with violence against or intimidation of person and frustrated murder in their charges.

Of the complainants, it was only Dionisio who filed the charge of frustrated murder against the respondents.

Charged were ISAFP chief Commodore Leonardo Calderon, MIG 15 commander Col. Henry Robinson Jr. and CIDG director Chief Superintendent Jesus Versoza. Also facing the same charges were CIDG officers Police Officer 1 Noel de Ramos and Police Officer 3 Fred Pimentel who were part of the arresting team and 17 other unknown police personnel.

The military and police leadership said they were ready to answer to the charges.

Relatedly, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) belied reports that the Presidential Security Group (PSG) was involved in the arrest operation at Eustaquio’s house in Kamuning, Quezon City.

PSG chief Brig. Gen. Delfin Bangit expressed dismay over the allegation made by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon following a Senate hearing in which some of the alleged torture victims testified.

"The PSG has remained professional ever since and we will continue to remain professional. I will never tolerate such kind of participation," Bangit said in a press conference at Malacañang.

"It’s absurd and untrue," he said, adding the ISAFP and PNP never coordinated with the PSG on the May 22 arrest operation.

"I don’t have any idea about his (Biazon’s) source," said Col. Tristan Kison, chief of the AFP public information office.

"But as far as the AFP is concerned, the PSG has no participation in that operation," Kison told reporters.

At least eight military personnel from the MIG-15 are now facing a military pre-trial investigation in connection with the May 22 raid.

The military leadership has continually refused to name the eight soldiers, saying doing so would jeopardize their safety.

"We are just withholding their names to avoid reprisal from the other side. For the security of the ISAFP personnel and their family," Kison said.

But he added that once the court summons the soldiers, the AFP would present them with their lawyers.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said Eustaquio, Cabauatan, Dionisio, Curameng and Ibona would present their defense in court.

"They are prepared to answer the charges as they maintained that their actions were within the legal parameters," Pagdilao said.

According to Salvador Panelo, one of the lawyers for the "Erap 5," Calderon, Versoza and Robinson were charged based on the principle of command responsibility.

Panelo likewise expressed confidence that they have a strong case against the police and military agents involved in the operation.

"The case is strong because of the physical evidence and the absence of a search or arrest warrant," he said.

Panelo added that their case is also bolstered by the findings of the PNP crime laboratory that there were indeed signs of torture on Dionisio.

It would be recalled that the five UMDJ members were later ordered released by the justice department.

Dionisio’s statement

In his sworn statement, the 60-year-old Dionisio recounted that at about 3 p.m. on May 22, he was at the house of Eustaquio in Kamuning, Quezon City with Eustaquio, Cabauatan, Ibona and Curameng and were discussing a possible micro-financing scheme for UMDJ members when armed men suddenly barged in and ordered them to lie on the ground at gunpoint.

The armed men then grabbed Curameng’s service firearm even though he introduced himself as a police officer. They also took the wallets of Curameng, Eustaquio and Dionisio. After collecting their wallets, Dionisio said, the armed men proceeded to collect their cell phones.

Afterwards, Dionisio said the armed men led him out of Eustaquio’s house and asked if he went by the alias of "Ka Ruben." He said he was then forced into a white Ford Fierra along with the other arrested UMDJ members. They were then blindfolded inside the van.

Dionisio said that while in custody of the arresting agents, he was beaten and even tortured by electrocution to his testicles in an effort to get him to admit he was a certain Mike Gamara, alias Ruben Tiamco, the secretary of the Metro Rizal Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

Dionisio also said that while he was being questioned, his captors told him that they were somewhere in Tarlac.

Kison belied accusations of torture, saying the military and the police would not resort to such actions.

He added that if torturing indeed took place, it was not sanctioned by the AFP leadership.

Estrada had expressed outrage at the arrest of his supporters, calling it a "criminal act (that) cannot be tolerated under a society governed by laws."

"What they did showed their total disregard for our laws, and those behind the abduction must be meted the appropriate punishment," Estrada said. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jaime Laude, Paolo Romero, Francis Santiago, Leonard Postrado