Sacked policemen to face accusers

The 11 Manila policemen linked to the kidnapping and extortion activities of dismissed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent Martin Soriano will meet their accusers face-to-face today.

Metro police chief Director Avelino Razon Jr. said they have at least five witnesses who expressed willingness to identify the 11 Manila policemen in a police line-up at the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) headquarters at Camp Crame today.

"I instructed them to appear before PACER for a possible confrontation with their accusers," said Razon, adding he relayed his order to Western Police District (WPD) director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong.

Earlier, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Edgar Aglipay ordered the relief of the 11 Manila policemen, including a station commander, to prevent them from harassing or intimidating the complainants and witnesses against them.

The PNP chief has vowed to investigate the alleged involvement of the 11 Manila policemen to the activities of Soriano, who was arrested during a payoff in Quezon City last Jan. 31.

It was Soriano who revealed the involvement of the 11 officers in his money-making operations.

Ordered relieved by Razon were Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, chief of the WPD Station 9 in Malate; Inspector Casan Ali of Police Station 9 (PS 9); SPO1 Elmer Manalang, PS 8; SPO2 Fernando Cantillas, PS 5; PO3 Rodolfo Endrina, PS 9; PO2 Arsenio Tercino, Beat Patrol Unit; PO2 Ernie Reyes, PS 9, PO2 Alexander de los Reyes, PS 9, PO2 Ronilo Marquez, PS 9; PO1 Ronald Rivera, PS 11, and PO1 Ramil de Guzman, PS 5.

Razon said the suspects were allegedly spotted going in and out of the Citadel Inn, where Soriano brought his victims, including businesswoman Caroline Guillen, 23, who was picked up in Makati City on Jan. 28. Superintendent Napoleon Taas, intelligence chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said Soriano had actually linked 17 Manila policemen, but only 11 were identified by victims through photographs.

"We are still gathering evidence against the six others prior to the filing of charges against them," Taas told The STAR.

He said they have an airtight case against the 11 suspects.

Razon said Pedrozo and company failed to report yesterday to the Headquarters Special Services Group (RSSG) of the NCRPO, where Aglipay wanted them reassigned.

Pedrozo has denied involvement in Soriano’s activities, insisting the former NBI agent concocted the story to get even with him. Pedrozo said Soriano had requested the release of four persons arrested for illegal drugs, which he turned down.

Razon clarified that Pedrozo and the others should not be afraid to face their accusers, because it is their chance to clear their names.

Soriano’s kidnap and extortion racket was exposed after he and two of his aides were arrested in the act of receiving P200,000 for the safe release of Guillen.

Three others — government witness Mary "Rosebud" Ong, businessman Allan Sycip and a certain Aya — later surfaced, claiming they too were kidnapped by Soriano.

Meanwhile, an aide and a driver of Soriano appeared before the Department of Justice yesterday and denied their involvement in the kidnapping of Guillen and her companion last Jan. 28.

In a joint counter-affidavit, Ramiro Ganzon and Danny Rendon said they knew nothing about the allegations of Guillen since both of them were not in the Citadel Inn at the time of the supposed kidnapping.

Guillen and her companion were also present during the preliminary investigation conducted by prosecution lawyer Irwin Maraya.

In their affidavit, Ganzon and Rendon said they did not accompany Soriano on Jan. 28 and were told to stay at their employer’s unit at Platinum Building in Greenhills, San Juan.

Ganzon said he stayed at the Platinum unit until Jan. 31 when Soriano called him to report for work. – With Aurea Calica, Cecille Suerte Felipe