Cops to question DPWH guards on Aquino ambush

MANILA, Philippines - All security guards detailed at the Department of Public Works and Highways on the day Undersecretary Ramon Aquino was ambushed while leaving the DPWH compound along Port Area, Manila shall undergo lie detector tests, an official said yesterday.

Manila Police District director and Task Force Aquino head Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales said the tests will prove if the guards on duty are telling the truth on what they know of the attack on Undersecretary Ramon Aquino.

“It seems (they) were all looking on opposite directions at the time of the ambush. No one saw what happened, especially the guards at the exit gate,” he said.

According to Rosales, Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane had replaced the DPWH guards when his office and that of Undersecretary Bashir Rasuman’s were burglarized on March 2. With the new set of guards, the ambush occurred.

The task force is also set to release today the artist sketch of the woman who reportedly led the ambushers to tap public information on the elusive leader of the group.

“The woman orchestrated the ambush. Our witnesses have observed a woman talking to the gunmen and the drivers of get-away motorcycles as early as 11 a.m. on the day of the ambush,” Rosales said.

Aquino is reportedly on the road to recovery after a successful operation Saturday to remove a portion of his liver that had been damaged by bullets.          – Nestor Etolle, Evelyn Macairan