False report covered cops' deployment

MANILA, Philippines – A “fake” bomb report was allegedly used by the Maguindanao police to justify the deployment of police officers at several checkpoints hours before the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre was carried out, a National Police Commission (Napolcom) official said yesterday.

Napolcom chief prosecutor Owen de Luna, who is handling the administrative case filed against the policemen tagged in the murder of 57 people, presented a photocopy of the report during yesterday’s hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The report states that the provincial police was informed through a text message that “a sack of improvised explosive device(s) was found along the National Highway of Barangay Malating, Maguindanao, which resulted (in) a traffic that both sides of the highway were blocked.”

The police report was dated Nov. 23, 2009 and was signed by Senior Superintendent Alfonso Pagkaliwanagan, regional intelligence division chief. It was supplied to De Luna by Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses, officer-in-charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police unit.

“This is how they wanted to cover up the crime. So that motorists will be precluded from entering checkpoint areas. So that the team of Mayor Unsay will be able to orchestrate everything at the time of the crime,” De Luna told The STAR.

Unsay refers to the nickname of Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the carnage. He has repeatedly denied involvement in the killings and has pleaded not guilty to the 57 counts of murder.

Lineses, then spokesman of the ARMM police, said when he took over as temporary head of the Maguindanao police three days after the massacre, he never found any sack of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as claimed in the report.

He also said the document “was the sole report on the Nov. 23 killings that was submitted to them by the provincial police.”

“None of them told us about the massacre. The regional police only learned it only through television,” Lineses said during his testimony.

Defense lawyers, for their part, said Lineses could not credibly testify on the report because he did not prepare it nor was he the signatory.

They added that it was impossible to conduct any investigation because, as Lineses stated in his affidavit, they were immediately relieved after the incident.

De Luna, on the other hand, asked: “How come the police could come up with a report on IED but not on the abduction?”

“The truth is (the police did nothing) to investigate or prevent the crime,” he added.

The false report also “corroborated the earlier testimony of Inspector Michael Joy Macaraeg,” De Luna said.

Macaraeg earlier accused Maguindanao’s highest police official at the time of the massacre, Senior Superintendent Abusama Maguid, of ordering Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay in Tagalog to pretend that he “received a bomb threat and that it was a false alarm.” Maguid’s lawyer, Abdulkalim Askali, denied the accusation and said the testimony was “made up” because his client never talked to Dicay in Tagalog.

“Lineses never knew Macaraeg’s testimony. If it wasn’t true, how come it jived?” De Luna said.

At least 62 policemen are charged by the relatives of the victims before the Napolcom for alleged grave misconduct. De Luna said they are set to present five to seven more witnesses before wrapping up.

Separate jail facilities

In a related development, a Quezon City regional trial court judge trying the criminal case against the massacre suspects issued an order allowing three policemen – prospective state witnesses – to be detained away from the Ampatuans, saying this was to prevent them from receiving threats from the members and supporters of the clan.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes allowed the detention of Macaraeg, Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon and PO1 Rainier Ebus in the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center at Camp Crame.

This was earlier questioned by the camp of Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Andal Jr., who sought the transfer of Macaraeg, Diongon, Ebus, PO1 Pia Kamodon and civilian volunteer organization members Esmael Kanapia and Takpan Dilon from Camp Crame to the jail at Camp Bagong Diwa, where the Ampatuans are detained.

The Ampatuans claimed there was no pending application for these people to be admitted to the government’s witness protection program.

Solis-Reyes, however, said the detention of Diongon, Macaraeg and Ebus away from the Ampatuans was “merely a recognition of the possibility that (a) feeling of animosity may have already developed as a consequence of the proposed witnesses’ decision to testify against accused Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Jr.”

There is a pending motion by the prosecution to remove Diongon, Macaraeg, Ebus and fellow prospective state witness Rasul Sangki from the charge sheet.

“Hence to obviate any possible threats, psychological pressure and undue influence that may adversely affect the proposed witnesses’ determination to testify, their detention in a separate facility may be allowed,” Solis-Reyes said.

The judge said her order does not apply to Dilon, Kanapia and Kamodon since a motion to discharge them from the case has yet to be filed. She ordered the chief of the PNP Custodial Center to immediately transfer the three from the Camp Crame facility to the Quezon City Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Meanwhile, Solis-Reyes did not grant a petition by Dicay and 14 other policemen to be transferred from the Quezon City Jail Annex to the PNP Custodial Center since prosecutors have yet to file a motion regarding the policemen’s intention to testify for the prosecution.

“However, in order to allay the fear of the aforementioned accused, there is a need to transfer the latter to another cell separate from their co-accused,” she said.

Solis-Reyes directed the transfer of Dicay and 14 other policemen to the security intensive care area of the Metro Manila District Jail, also in Camp Bagong Diwa. It was not immediately clear, though, whether Dicay would be separated from the other accused policemen.

The officer in charge of the Quezon City Jail Annex has asked the court to separate Dicay from the other policemen who are also being eyed as state witnesses. The jail official cited a recent confrontation between Dicay and the other policemen as some of them were allegedly switching sides in favor of the Ampatuans. – With Reinir Padua