Probers: Calabarzon cops not cooperating :Cell phones of checkpoint cops to be examined

MANILA, Philippines - Obstruction of justice has not been mentioned, but investigators say members of the Calabarzon police have been uncooperative in the fact-finding undertaken by a special committee formed to look into the killing of 13 men in Quezon province on Jan. 6. 

Calabarzon police officials and members refused to turn over for inspection vehicles and guns used in the shooting incident at the boundary of Atimonan and Plaridel towns, according to a report prepared by Chief Superintendent Francisco Don Montenegro, acting head of the Philippine National Police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (PNP-DIDM).

The regional police command, with jurisdiction over the Southern Tagalog provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, also failed to submit a complete list of the police and military men who participated in the shooting incident, or individual accounts of their role. 

There is also no report on who might have disturbed the scene of the mass killing, which the joint police-military contingent described as a shootout at a checkpoint. 

Results of ballistics tests on the guns used were also not submitted to the fact-finding committee created by PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima. 

Montenegro’s report, dated yesterday, was forwarded to Purisima. 

“It should be underscored, however, that PRO4A (Police Regional Office 4A) is not complying with the request of the committee to turn over the vehicles, and the firearms used by the PNP elements in the shooting incident, thus derailing the completion of the investigation,” Montenegro’s report stated. 

The fact-finding team had required the Calabarzon police to submit a chronology of events on the operation that reportedly targeted one of the 13 fatalities, alleged jueteng lord Vic Siman. 

The chronology was supposed to include the first briefing conducted among members of the police-military contingent as well as the establishment of the supposed checkpoint.

The chronology has not been submitted. 

“There is also no report on the possible lapses committed by members of the PNP Crime Laboratory group during the scene-of-the-crime operations and still no explanation on why those who were directed to submit their firearms and vehicles for examination failed to submit the same,” Montenegro’s report declared. 

Purisima returned the fact-finding team’s four-page report to the group yesterday for “reformatting... so it can be easily understood even by ordinary people.” 

He emphasized that the report will be forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the lead agency in the probe of the shooting, to avoid accusations of a whitewash by the PNP. 

The report, citing evidence gathered by the fact-finding team, had concluded that there was no shootout and the 13 men in a two-vehicle convoy were ambushed and subjected to excessive use of force. 

Earlier, a PNP official also said the police team leader in the operation, Superintendent Hansel Marantan, had refused to submit himself to physical examination by probers.

Marantan, deputy chief of the Calabarzon Regional Intelligence Division, was the only one wounded in the police-military contingent of about 50 men.  

‘Submit cell phones’ Marantan and two ranking Calabarzon police officials have been required to submit their mobile phones to the PNP so their calls and text messages before, during and after the shooting incident can be checked. 

The two others are Chief Superintendent James Melad, Calabarzon regional police commander, and Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, chief of the Regional Police Safety Battalion. 

An official said Melad was the case director for the overall implementation of the operation, while Dumlao was the direct supervisor tasked to provide guidance in accomplishing the objective.

Marantan was the case officer who drew up the plan for the operation, consolidated and analyzed information, and formulated or disseminated intelligence and information requirements for the team. 

Dumlao was implicated in the kidnapping and murder of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Dumlao turned state witness, implicating former President Joseph Estrada and clearing Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the twin murders. 

Special Order 967, dated Dec. 15, 2011, reinstated Dumlao to the PNP effective Feb. 16 last year.

He claimed Malacañang was notified of the “case operation plan” that led to the encounter in Quezon, but the Palace has denied authorizing the “coplan.” 

Police and military officials earlier said the operation targeted a gang of hired guns involved in other crimes, and that the convoy opened fire first, prompting the team at the supposed checkpoint to return fire. 

The fact-finding committee found 186 bullet holes in the first vehicle and 50 in the second.

Police are still trying to trace the driver and details of a truck or tractor that reportedly moved slowly or was parked ahead of the convoy before the gunfire erupted along Maharlika Highway. 

The convoy reportedly overtook the truck, and the vehicles were on the left lane when they were sprayed with bullets. 

Both Dumlao and Melad belonged to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, the elite unit headed by Lacson when Estrada was president.  

Palace: No comment  Malacañang declined to comment yesterday on the report of the PNP fact-finding team, saying it would wait for the final report of the NBI. 

“We cannot comment on that. There’s going to be an official report. It will be submitted to the President so we do not wish to speculate as to the results of the investigation,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. 

An official of the NBI expressed doubts yesterday that a shootout occurred in Quezon, although he said they may have to find a more accurate word than “ambush” to describe what happened. 

Virgilio Mendez, NBI deputy director for regional operations services, said there were reports that some of the 13 also fired guns from their vehicles. 

The PNP fact-finding team had noted that all the windows of the two Mistubishi Montero sport utility vehicles were rolled up. 

Mendez said they still had no copy of the PNP report and could not comment on its findings. 

He said the NBI has “credible witnesses” who saw what happened in Quezon, and have issued affidavits.

The witnesses have been secured, he said. 

The NBI is about 75 percent finished with its own probe and could come out with its report by Friday, Mendez said.

He declined to give details on the results of the NBI’s autopsy of 11 of the fatalities. 

For its part, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) said yesterday it would turn over to the NBI the results of its own probe into the shooting incident. The Napolcom has supervisory and administrative control over the PNP. 

A senior anti-crime official yesterday described the shooting incident in Quezon as “Kuratong Baleleng, Part II” – referring to the 11 suspected members of the crime group killed by Lacson’s men in the 1990s. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Gregorio Honasan said the Senate would wait for the final NBI report on the shooting incident before conducting any congressional probe. – With Sandy Araneta, Delon Porcalla, Jaime Laude, Mike Frialde, Ed Amoroso, Jennifer Rendon