Yearender: NBI solved over 9,000 cases in 2006

The year 2006 was a banner year for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as far as solving cases is concerned, including high profile ones.

In its annual accomplishment report, NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said the agency had solved a total of 9,135 cases out of the 11,728 it handled last year.

Mantaring said the NBI had also processed and issued over 4.4 million clearances, as compared to some 4.1 million issued in 2005.

The NBI chief stressed that a campaign against drug trafficking was among the accomplishments of the bureau last year, citing as an example the arrest and prosecution of Harris Abichandani for large-scale distribution of some P53 million worth of ketamine hydrochloride, a key ingredient in shabu manufacturing.

He said it was last year when NBI collared several high-profile suspects involved in the illegal drug trade: Amin Imam Boratong and wife Sheryl Molera, who were supposedly behind the shabu tiangge in Pasig City; Samsodin Pamantar and Romeo Alac for possession of P160 million worth of ephedrine; and Zi Qu, Ong Tua Ti, Zhin Nam and Xian Tian, who were nabbed during a raid in a laboratory containing P120 million worth of shabu in Aurora province.

The bureau’s campaign against kidnapping-for-ransom last year was also as successful as operations of some big-time syndicates — including Ariel Ano and Waray-Waray crime gangs — came to an end.

The intensified campaign against intellectual property rights violations of the NBI also paid off last year. The agency received 115 complaints and pursued 355 cases that led to the seizure of assorted fake products amounting to over P302 million.

Also among the notable accomplishments of the bureau were the rescue of 169 women from prostitution dens all over the country; arrest and prosecution of Gabriel Bagtang and his cohorts in selling P16 million worth of fake gold bars; and the filing of criminal charges against Benjamin Garcia, who allegedly killed former Assistant Solicitor General Nestor Ballacillo.

The year 2006 also gave the NBI some unprecedented cases, including the confiscation of sacks of fake P5 and P10 coins and the arrest of a syndicate engaged in smuggling out P1 coins for use as scrap metal.

Despite these accomplishments, Mantaring stressed that the NBI would still continue to develop its capabilities.

"While our investigative and intelligence services as well as the support groups have performed creditably well, I exhort our bureau’s workforce to do even better in fulfillment of the three-point policy statement I earlier announced — unity in purpose, professionalism and responsive public service," he said in a statement.

Mantaring said the bureau is up for new programs this year, including a proposed online filing and receipt of complaints and requests for investigation, strengthening of anti-terrorism division, setting up of four more investigation offices for violence against women and children cases, and installation of more clearance payment kiosks at the NBI clearance center in Sta. Cruz, Manila.