Who’s footing Marantan’s bills?

MANILA, Philippines - He’s been confined in a top private hospital for several days and has reportedly hired a lawyer.

Probers are wondering who is footing the bills of Superintendent Hansel Marantan.

The police officer has been confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City since he was shot in the hand and foot during the alleged shootout in Atimonan, Quezon last Jan. 6 where 13 people were killed.

Marantan’s left foot is still in a cast and he has not been discharged since he was brought to the hospital more than 12 days ago.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima said the PNP would definitely not shoulder Marantan’s medical expenses at St. Luke’s, a private hospital.

“We have our own PNP General Hospital and the medical bills at St. Luke’s would run into thousands of pesos, definitely the PNP could not afford that,” Purisima said.

Many policemen wounded in action are treated at the PNP-GH or other government-run hospitals.

In many cases, the PNP volunteers to shoulder hospital expenses but only for financially strapped police personnel.

A check made by The STAR showed a police superintendent like Marantan receive a base pay of P40,298 with additional long pay, hazard pay and other allowances amounting to more or less P20,000.

St. Luke’s prides itself as “one of the world’s best.” Its branch in Bonifacio Global City is three times larger than the one in Quezon City. The Taguig branch has 629 rooms ranging from basic to fully furnished suites.

The cheapest room costs P1,000 per day or P952 for senior citizens, while the most expensive suite is P50,000, which was occupied by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before she was transferred to government-run Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

Marantan, who initially refused to be interviewed by fellow policemen conducting a fact-finding investigation, has started cooperating with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

The police, however, are still tracing the vehicles allegedly used by Marantan during the shootout.

The PNP-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) said the fact-finding team created by the PNP to investigate the shootout had asked Marantan to surrender the vehicle used during the incident.

The vehicles that were used were a Mitsubishi Adventure and a Toyota Innova.

An HPG official said they already contacted Marantan’s Calabarzon police regional intelligence division but there was no reply.

The official said they are trying to reach Marantan and Senior Inspector John Paulo Carracedo to turn over the two vehicles.

“If they insist not to comply with the order of the fact-finding team, Marantan and Carracedo would be facing administrative sanction, then they will also be subject to summary dismissal proceedings,” the HPG official warned.

He said Marantan and Carracedo had admitted owning the two vehicles.

The official pointed out that Marantan and Carracedo should have turned over the vehicles as part of the police standard operating procedure for accountability of the personnel involved, along with the firearms and the vehicles used in the operation.

“They failed to submit a coordinate letter which contained the list of the names of the participant policemen, the mission’s objective, including the firearms and motor vehicles used by Marantan’s group in the operation,” he said.

The official stressed they have to verify ownership of the vehicles with the Land Transportation Office.

Abolish the unit

These developments apparently made PNP chief Purisima dissatisfied with the performance of police intelligence units.

Purisima said he is planning to abolish the PNP’s counter intelligence unit (CIU) for its failure to detect any information that led to the Atimonan shootout.

Purisima said he is dissatisfied with the performance of the CIU under the police Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) tasked to monitor information about police personnel, particularly in the case of Marantan and Superintendent Alfredo Consemino, one of the 13 men who were killed in the incident.

He said the unit apparently had no substantial output and was not functioning properly.

Purisima said he would order the creation of a new group that will replace the IG’s counter-intelligence unit.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said the plan to abolish the CIU came amid the controversy involving Marantan and the policemen who were killed in the alleged shootout that included Consemino, PO1 Jeffrey Valdez and SPO1 Gruet Mantuano.

Cerbo said Purisima had noted numerous reports about Marantan and Consemino as regards their involvement with Vic Siman, an alleged gambling lord who was among those killed in Atimonan.

He said CIU should have done a better job in detailing the relationship of the key players in the incident.

“The PNP chief was not satisfied with the CIU’s performance, which is why he is planning to create another unit to replace it,” Cerbo said.

Cerbo said that in the case of Consemino, a lot of things need explanation.

“Why was he (Consemino) in the company of Siman, who was labeled as kingpin of jueteng, then we have this report on Marantan allegedly maintaining or protecting a rival group. I’m sure that’s not the end of it,” he said.

Cerbo said that among the functions of the police intelligence unit are the physical security of camps as well as documents of the PNP.

It is also tasked with monitoring illegal activities involving policemen, he added.

“This (plan to abolish the CIU) is to maintain the integrity of our personnel,” Cerbo said. – Ed Amoroso