Cebu resort exec accuses NBI official of ‘massive cover-up’

The management of Plantation Bay, a world-class resort in Mactan, Cebu, raised disturbing questions yesterday on Friday’s mistaken shooting of six of its employees, five of whom were seriously wounded, by confidential agents and assets of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

In a press conference yesterday, Plantation Bay officials claimed that it was "indisputable" that NBI Central Visayas director Romulo Manapsal attempted a "massive cover-up."

Manapsal has reportedly gone on leave as NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco sent a three-man panel to Cebu to look into the incident.

The six Plantation Bay employees, led by sports and spa manager Michael Monsod, were on their way home from Monsod’s birthday party aboard a Mitsubishi L-300 van when they apparently got caught in a stakeout by the NBI agents.

The agents had claimed to have been tipped off by a female drug suspect that her supplier was riding in a similar van.

Since it was 2 a.m. and they had no way of knowing if the armed men trying to flag them down in Barangay Looc were robbers or not, Monsod’s group sped off.

But the agents gave chase and fired at the van, which had a total of 73 bullet holes. Witnesses described the incident as a "massacre," noting that the agents continued firing even as the van screeched to a halt because of flat tires.

Plantation Bay cited numerous eyewitnesses as saying that at least 15 NBI agents were involved in the incident, not five as Manapsal had "produced."

Also, the resort’s officials said at least six types of bullets, including M-16 Armalite’s, pierced through their employees’ van. "How many guns did Manapsal produce? Three, all handguns, no Armalite," they said.

They noted that Manapsal was "incommunicado" for almost 10 hours since 3 a.m. last Friday.

"Where was he? Whom did he meet? What deal did he broker?" asked Emmanuel Gonzalez, president and chief executive officer of Plantation Bay Holdings Corp.

"How stupid does Mr. Manapsal think Cebuanos are? How stupid does he think his boss is? How stupid does he think President Arroyo is?" Gonzalez further asked.

The resort official alleged that the five "fall guys" whom Manapsal had presented as the ones involved in the shooting were "offered a deal, and promises of money, by the confidential agents you are shielding."

"These promises were based on the assumption that the victims were ordinary people who could be bought off cheap. Wrong. These are not ordinary people. And Plantation Bay is not an ordinary company," Gonzalez said.

He added: "When the price tag for a possible areglo rises into the tens of millions, as it most certainly will, how many of your gun groupies will actually come up with the money?"

Gonzalez asked the five "fall guys" to "wise up," saying "this entire cover-up is so inept, so crude, so full of weak links that it cannot possibly hold up."

"Salvage what little honor you have left, and come clean now," he told them."

At least three Cebu lawmakers, including sixth district Rep. Nerissa Soon Ruiz, have condemned the incident. Ruiz, for one, has called for an inquiry into NBI’s continued practice of utilizing confidential agents or assets in operations that require the use of firearms, when they should be only involved in intelligence gathering.