Yearender: QCPD ends year of high-profile cases, bombings

MANILA, Philippines - The past year was not only marked by a change of leadership in the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) but also by high-profile cases – ranging from explosions and bombs found in different areas including government offices, prompting rumors of destabilization, to the controversial death of a broadcaster’s wife.

Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego – who took over the helm of the city police force from erstwhile QCPD head Director Magtanggol Gatdula in the earlier part of 2009 – admitted it was indeed a year full of controversial cases that also included the strafing of a cabinet official’s house and the hunt for a murder suspect blamed for the killing of a Malacañang executive’s son during a road rage incident.

Despite the numerous high-profile cases that the city police had to handle this year, San Diego maintained that 2009 was “very encouraging” for them, noting that for the fourth time, the QCPD was nominated for the award of best police unit in the entire country. He stressed that they are the only one nominated among the districts of the National Capital Region Police Office.

“It might have been a controversial year for us but I believe our men delivered a good performance,” San Diego said.

Before the change of leadership in the QCPD came the footage taken by a news crew from ABS-CBN, raising allegations of a rubout in an encounter between policemen and suspected carjackers on Edsa in February.

Both Gatdula and San Diego maintained it was a legitimate police operation. In fact, the sedan that carried the three suspected car thieves during the chase from Mandaluyong all the way up to Quezon City was indeed a stolen vehicle and the slain men were said to have had criminal records.

The Trinidad Etong case

Barely a month after San Diego took over as head of the QCPD, the controversial death of the wife of broadcaster Ted Failon hit the headlines.

Trinidad Etong was found with a gunshot wound to her head at the couple’s house in the posh Tierra Pura Subdivision on the morning of April 15. She was in critical condition at New Era General Hospital before she eventually passed away on the night of April 16.

Failon – Mario Teodoro Etong in real life – insisted his wife committed suicide, citing financial problems and even a supposed suicide note that she purportedly wrote.

But policemen doubted the suicide angle, making everyone at the house, including Failon and other members of the household, suspects in the police investigation.

Police officials earlier questioned the fact that helpers cleaned the toilet at the house where the wife was found with a gunshot wound and the vehicle used to transport her to the hospital. Even the pistol used in the shooting was taken away from the crime scene and was only handed over to the police when they eventually arrived later in the afternoon.

There was also the fact that no one from the household ever reported the incident to any unit of the police. Members of the household said these were unintentional and that helpers cleaned the toilet and the vehicle on their own and were never ordered by Failon to do so.

Still, policemen charged with obstruction of justice those who were at the house when Etong’s wounded body was found – Failon, four house helpers and Etong’s sister. Eventually, the charges never prospered after the fiscal dismissed the case, agreeing with the argument of Failon’s camp that it had yet to be established if a crime was committed since it was still undetermined whether there was foul play in Etong’s death.

Investigators also noted several “inconsistencies” in the stories provided by members of the household, including the position of Etong’s body when she was found bloodied inside the toilet. There was also the trajectory of the bullet, which was tilted downwards from the entry point to the exit point, as opposed to the usual angle in suicide cases that both points should be at least level with each other if not the entry point lower than the exit point.

Failon’s camp protested the way he and those charged with obstruction of justice were treated especially when members of the household were arrested moments before Etong eventually died at the hospital. The broadcaster even accused the police and the government of getting back at him for his tirades as a radio commentator – something that the police leadership vehemently denied, with the police insisting they did everything properly and handled the case as they would any other case they came across with.

But the apparent pressure led higher authorities to transfer the investigation of the case from the QCPD to the National Bureau of Investigation, which eventually declared the incident as a suicide. The police officials and officers who handled the investigation were slapped with a suspension.

Bombs, explosions, threats

In the middle of the year, government offices and a posh condominium building where the family of President Arroyo once stayed were disturbed by explosions, the discovery of military bombs and bomb threats, triggering talks of purported moves to destabilize the government.

The first one was the explosion that rocked the Office of the Ombudsman located along Agham Road on June 28, a Sunday. Investigators said the bomb had materials commonly used in dynamites.

The following morning, another government agency – the Department of Agriculture (DA) office along Elliptical Road – was hit by a bomb scare after a suspicious package was found in its compound. On the same day, another suspicious package was found outside One Burgundy Plaza along Katipunan Avenue. The President’s family once occupied the penthouse of the condominium building.

Police found that the packages left at the DA compound and outside the condominium building were both C4 bombs, commonly used by the military. A document showed that both explosive devices came from the same block of C4 bomb that was split into two, indicating that the packages came from the same person or group.

In separate instances in July, the DA, the Office of the Ombudsman and even the Department of Interior and Local Government received a number of bomb threats but bomb experts who searched the offices found none.

There was also an explosion at One Burgundy Plaza in October and another one outside a branch of Puregold Supermarket on Commonwealth Avenue but police authorities dismissed the incidents as isolated cases.

Ex-gov arrested three years after rival’s murder

Almost three years after the murder of former Abra lawmaker Luis Bersamin Jr., Quezon City policemen finally arrested on Sept. 1 the alleged mastermind in the killing – the politician’s rival, former governor Vicente Isidro Valera.

Valera was arrested by a team led by Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, the one who led the police investigation on the killing back in 2006, and Gatdula at a posh condominium building in Rockwell Center, Makati.

Policemen were armed with an arrest warrant dated Aug. 10 for the two counts of murder and another one dated May 12 for the frustrated murder case. The two cases are being heard by two Quezon City courts. There was no recommended bail for the murder charges. Following his arrest, Valera was brought to the Quezon City Jail, where he is still detained.

The killing happened when Bersamin attended a wedding in December 2006 at a church in Quezon City. The charges against Valera were based on the testimonies of former La Paz town vice mayor Freddie Dupo and Sonny Taculao, who were earlier charged and had tagged Valera as the alleged mastermind behind the killing.

Neri’s house strafed

On the morning of Oct. 9, heavily armed men arrived outside the house of Social Security System president Romulo Neri in Barangay Siena and strafed the residence just as the official was preparing for work.

There were no casualties in the incident, except for the minor injuries sustained by one of Neri’s security aides who had been outside the house.

Though Neri did not receive any threat prior to the attack and said he was unaware of the culprits’ identities and the motive behind the strafing, police officials said the incident may have been related to the national broadband network deal controversy that he was earlier involved in.

QCPD investigators eventually filed attempted murder, robbery, serious illegal detention, and car theft charges against alleged communist rebel Daniel Joseph Navarro of Mexico, Pampanga on Oct. 22.

A witness had tagged Navarro as one of two persons who allegedly carjacked the van he was driving that was later on used as one of the getaway vehicles by the suspects in the strafing. The driver was held in a warehouse also in Quezon City but he managed to escape.

Policemen, who went to the warehouse, found a receipt in a trash can there, indicating a purchase made through a loyalty card used by Navarro’s girlfriend. When investigators located the girlfriend, the woman said the receipt was for a clothing she gave to Navarro. The police found Navarro’s photos from the Land Transportation Office records and it was through these that witnesses identified him.

The suspect has yet to be arrested and though he had been identified by one of Neri’s bodyguards to be among the gunmen in the strafing, the real motive behind the attack has yet to be determined.

Road rage

The name of Jason Ivler hogged the headlines in mid-November after he was tagged in the killing of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. – a Malacañang executive’s son – during a traffic altercation.

But Ivler’s troubles continued to pile up after it was found out that he was the same man who figured in a traffic accident in 2004 that resulted in the death of another Palace official – presidential adviser Nestor Ponce. Ivler even reportedly attempted but failed to escape when he was charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

And even after Ivler was slapped with murder charges filed by the police for Ebarle’s death, another complainant alleged that Ivler was the same man who threatened him with a gun during another traffic altercation, also in Quezon City, the night before Ebarle was shot dead.

In all the three instances, Ivler was said to be driving a vehicle with diplomatic plates assigned to his stepfather, British diplomat Stephen Pollard.

Following the killing of Ebarle on Nov. 18 at the corner of Ortigas Avenue and Santolan Road, the diplomatic plate 20903 was seen attached to the sport utility vehicle used by the gunman. The plate was traced to Pollard, who claimed he was not the one driving the vehicle. When policemen showed to witnesses the photos of members of the household who had the capability to drive the SUV, they pointed to Ivler as the alleged gunman.

Two arrest warrants had been issued against Ivler – one for Ponce’s death, a case covering a bailable offense; and another for Ebarle’s murder, a crime that is considered non-bailable. As of this writing, Ivler continues to be at large as he is believed to still be carrying the handgun allegedly used in Ebarle’s murder.