‘Bentain drum probably spirited away even before search started’

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, Central Luzon police director, said yesterday those responsible for the murder of casino worker Edgar Bentain might have probably carted away the drum purportedly containing his body immediately after Angelo "Ador" Mawanay made his exposé.

"That is a very great possibility, even probability," said Berroya, former intelligence chief of the Philippine National Police. He was installed as Central Luzon police director only last week.

A team from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) has been digging for over two weeks now, searching for the drum supposedly containing Bentain’s remains, in the anti-lahar mega—dike in Barangay Cabetican in Bacoor town. Their efforts, however, have yielded nothing.

Mawanay, who claimed to be a former civilian agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) headed by former PNP chief, now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, alleged that he saw Bentain buried up to the neck in cement in a green drum which was dumped into a crevice in the megadike near the Cabetican bridge.

He implicated Lacson and other former PAOCTF officials in the killing.

Bentain, who was reportedly abducted on Jan. 16, 1999, was believed to be the source of a videotape showing former President Joseph Estrada playing baccarat with his friend Atong Ang in a hotel in Pasay City before the 1998 presidential elections.

Berroya, who at one time was jailed after Lacson implicated him in a kidnapping case, told reporters that the "Bentain drum" must have been spirited away by people responsible for the casino worker’s abduction.

"I know these guys, I know such styles," he said.

Berroya, however, said that "in the absence of proof, we cannot make any safe conclusions."

He said the Central Luzon police are supporting the ISAFP search for the "Bentain drum" which has been extended to lahar areas in Lubao town.

Meanwhile, Berroya urged Lacson to apologize to people whom he had accused of coddling his critics.

He was referring to Lacson’s earlier accusations that Mawa—nay’s exposé was a "sting operation" which ISAFP chief Col. Victor Corpuz has initiated, and to the senator’s linking him to the exposé of journalist Ramon Tulfo.

"Tulfo is my friend, but there is no way I can dictate to him. In the case of Ador, a Jesuit priest has already admitted having provided Ador with refuge when he initially came out in the open," Berroya said.

"If he (Lacson) is decent enough, he should apologize to the people whom he had wrongly accused," he added. — Ding Cervantes