Cebu City police chief, CIDG; regional director in word war

CEBU CITY — The word war between Cebu City police chief Hiram Benatiro and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group regional director Edwin Diocos over who gets credit for the arrest of suspects in the killing of a Japanese businessman, has escalated — for good reason.

Who gets credit stands to receive the P500,000 reward which the city government had dangled for the arrest of the suspects.

The word war centers on what transpired between the time the city police arrested Norberto Antiquando, the alleged mastermind in the Sept. 20 killing of Masayuki Kuwabara, and when the CIDG presented him to the media on Sept. 21.

Benatiro claimed his men, led by Chief Inspector Pablo Labra III, arrested Antiquando. He denied Diocos’ claim that the city police released the suspect for lack of evidence.

Diocos countered that Benatiro might have been misinformed by his own men on what transpired on Sept. 20, after Kuwabara was killed and his Japanese interpreter, Yusiyaki Mewa, was wounded in an ambush.

The CIDG, which presented Antiquando and three other suspects, Allan Inot, Alex Oyao and Claudio Bontilao, to the media the day after the incident, said Antiquando was picked up for questioning that night after the city police released him for lack of evidence.

Benatiro, however, said that by midnight of Sept. 20, the city police already had enough evidence to pin Antiquando down and was planning to interrogate him some more the following day.

To his surprise, it was the CIDG that presented Antiquando and the three other suspects to regional police director Avelino Razon the following day, in the presence of media, and claimed credit for their arrest.

Benatiro said his men never released Antiquando for lack of evidence but merely lent him to the CIDG, apparently for its own questioning.

All four suspects were charged last Monday for Kuwabara’s ambush-killing.

"I am speaking not for myself but for my people. This has been going on in the past. I hope they will not be offended. I am just reminding them. I was once in-charge of that division but I never stepped on the toes of other people," Benatiro said.

Still, Diocos stood pat on his claim that the city police released Antiquando and pointed to the homicide section as the unit that brought Antiquando home in Talamban.

"With due respect to Senior Superintendent Benatiro, I don’t want to comment on his statements. What is important (is the problem has been solved) and let’s focus on our job," Diocos said.

Diocos denied that the reward money was the cause of the tug-of-war over who effected Antiquando’s arrest.

Diocos said he is not denying the fact that the city police worked hard for the resolution of the case.

However, he said it just so happened that his men were the ones who were able to solve the killing.

Meanwhile, Mayor Tomas Osmeña clarified that the P500,000 reward for the suspects’ capture will only be given to the informant and not to the police.

Osmeña said the policemen who effected the arrests will only be given incentives.

He said the city may shoulder some of the operating costs of the police such as making the purchases for ammunition, vehicles or rubber shoes.