SAF fumes over ‘wrong’ arrest

They were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police accused operatives of the Western Police District (WPD) yesterday of wrongfully arresting two members of the elite fighting unit for the daring robbery of an Allied Bank branch in Malate, Manila last Tuesday.

A fuming SAF director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco vouched for the good character of Police Officer 1 Glenn Abardolasa, 35 and PO1 Joselito Verdaflor, 29, who were linked to the robbery.

Also arrested by the WPD were security guards Allan Balanday, Charlando Bediones and Vicente Fagutao.

The apparent conflict between the WPD and SAF prompted Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao to meet with SAF and WPD officials to settle the issue.

Lomibao and Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) chief Director Marcelo Ele Jr. presided over the meeting attended by Franco, Senior Superintendent Rafael Copruz, WPD deputy director for operations, and Superintendent Antonio Arellano, chief of WPD Station 9. WPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong is on official leave.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol and Superintendent Co Yee Co were also present.

Franco asked for a re-investigation on the Allied Bank robbery case.

He told Lomibao that two SAF men were in the area assigned as escorts to the owner of the Shooter’s Security Agency for helping the police track down a drug trafficker.

"The agency owner escorted by SAF men withdrew money from a bank, which is 50 meters away from the bank that was robbed by about 10 armed men at around 1:45 p.m.," one SAF officer said.

The robbers were about to escape when they fired at the SAF men and security guards, who failed to retaliate since their short firearms were no match to the long firearms of the robbers.

"It was the SAF men, who called the police and reported the robbery. But they were surprised that after an hour, investigators from WPD invited them to the police station and tagged them as among the robbers," a veteran investigator added.

Abardolasa is a member of the Crisis Response Group (CRG) of the SAF. "CRG is considered elite unit of the elite SAF because of their training and skills."

The source noted that Franco told Lomibao that while he would not tolerate any wrongdoing by his men, he would not allow other police units to just link his men to crimes without basis.

Meanwhile, the five arrested men waived their right to post bail yesterday and instead asked the court for a preliminary investigation.

As a result, the inquest fiscal has to make a decision within 15 days whether there is prima facie evidence to indict the five men with robbery in band. — With Nestor Etolle