The police team assigned to Taysan denied having any involvement in the torching of an elementary school in the Batangas town that left a teacher and a poll watcher dead last May 15.
Inspector Robert Marinda, team leader of the Batangas RSOG and SPO2 William Relos, who have been under restricted custody since Thursday, claimed they had left the Pinagbayanan School in Taysan when armed men set the school premises on fire at around 3 a.m. last Tuesday.
Marinda also turned the tables on mayoralty candidate Victor Portugal, whom they accused of having the motive because he was losing during the canvassing.
He maintained that they left Taysan after he reported to his superior, RSOG chief Superintendent Roger James Brillantes, that everything was peaceful.
“We were about 11 kilometers away from the area when the arson took place.”
Marinda also pointed out that he could have not been associated with incumbent Taysan Mayor Hernando Villena because he assumed his post only two days before the burning took place.
“Let me emphasize that I assumed my post at RSOG two days before the burning. I am from Bicol,” Marinda told reporters in a press conference at their “detention” area at the office of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
The two policemen were transferred last night to Camp Vicente Lim in Southern Tagalog, where they remain under custody.
Marinda and Relos had been restricted at the CIDG office in Camp Crame since Friday morning after witnesses identified them as two of the five armed men who poured gasoline to two classrooms and set them on fire, killing teacher Nellie Banaag and poll watcher Leticia Ramos.
Aside from denying any link to the arson, Marinda also hinted that Villena could not have ordered the torching since he was leading in the canvassing. He said Villena already got around 1,000 votes against candidate Victor Portugal with only 25 votes.
The RSOG officers claimed they spotted Portugal’s white Nissan Safari with plate number VAP-111 before the incident. Portugal could not be reached for comment.
“Nothing could be gained by the petitioners in the burning of the Pinagbayanan Elementary School,” Marinda and Relos said in their petition for habeas corpus filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
According to Marinda’s lawyer, Atty. Romeo Esmero, the habeas corpus was meant to ask the leadership of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to explain why Marinda and Relos had been detained in Camp Crame for several days although they were not formally charged.
“It appears to be a vendetta. Someone is losing the count in the precinct,” said Esmero, who added that “Portugal had threatened to get back at Relos for arresting one of his supporters, a barangay captain, prior to the elections.”
Esmero, however, could not give a direct answer when asked if Portugal was behind the attack. – Cecille Suerte Felipe