Pamatong assails police, asks GMA to drop charges

Disqualified presidential bet Elly Pamatong has appealed to President Arroyo to drop the illegal firearms charges filed against him by the military and police, whom he accused of planting evidence and committing torture.

In an open letter to the President, Pamatong challenged to a lie-detector test all police and military officers involved in arresting him last month in Laguna. The lawyer, who was disqualified in the May polls for being a nuisance bet, was arrested on June 25, a few days after he admitted scattering metal spikes in major roads of Metro Manila.

Pamatong said he would be more than willing to undergo a lie-detector test to prove that he had been set up at a checkpoint in Mabitac, Laguna.

"I am writing you this letter as a family friend, one who risked his life and everything to protect both your father and the country sometime in 1972, not to seek personal favors, but to attempt to help you regain our people’s faith in the government and to seek justice in my behalf and in behalf of my poor and helpless companions," Pamatong said in his letter.

He accused the military and the police under the command of one Gen. Pedro Orbon of robbing him and his companions while his group was staying at the resthouse of Mayor Joel Cuento at Sitio Luya in Barrio Kuralan, Santa Maria, Laguna.

Pamatong claimed police and the military fabricated the details of his arrest and planted evidence against him and his team.

"To legalize or neutralize this robbery, the raiding team of military officers later charged me and my companions with a crime based on false and perjured affidavits," he said.

Pamatong claimed he and his companions were even tortured while detained at an "extremely filthy cell."

One of the apprehending officers interviewed by The STAR debunked Pamatong’s claims, saying the lawyer should prove them in court.

"There is proof of firearms and explosives. Why would we plant evidence against him," the officer said in a phone interview.

In his letter, Pamatong asked Mrs. Arroyo to drop all the "fabricated" charges and charge the concerned arresting officers for perjury.

He also demanded a written apology from the government troops for the "false affidavits and arrests made without warrant."

Pamatong’s letter to President Arroyo came a day after he wrote US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone and offered to send his bodyguards to Iraq to replace the small Philippine contingent that was pulled out.