Wycoco: No whitewash of case vs NBI’s Cebu agents

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco yesterday assured the management of the posh Plantation Bay Resort in Cebu City that there would be no "whitewash" in the bureau’s probe of the shooting of six resort employees who were mistaken as drug traffickers by NBI agents on Dec. 13.

Wycoco also welcomed the filing of multiple frustrated murder and attempted murder charges against the accused agents by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on Friday.

"We have no objection to the CIDG’s filing of charges. For our part, we are conducting a probe to determine if the agents involved could face administrative charges," said Wycoco in a phone interview with The Star.

According to reports, the CIDG filed the charges against lawyer Angelito Magno and special investigators Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay, Rey Tumalon and Teodoro Saavedra before the Visayas-Ombudsman.

Two alleged confidential agents, Paul Lauro, a radio reporter, and Joey Cal, a businessman, were also charged as principals, reports said.

Romulo Manapsal, NBI regional director, was charged as an accessory.

The CIDG said it was still checking the identities of eight other men, all confidential agents of the NBI, who took part in the shooting of five employees of the Plantation Bay resort.

The CIDG had attached the medical certificates of the victims and reports by the PNP Crime Laboratory.

Included as pieces of evidence were 72 bullet shells found in the scene of the shooting.

They came from various calibers of guns, including an M-16 Armalite.

Six employees of Plantation Bay were on board an L-300 van when they were fired upon by the group of NBI agents, at about 2:10 a.m. on Dec. 13.

The passengers were identified as Michael Monsod, Nenette Castillon, Glan Carlo Cajoles, Esther Luz Mae Gregorio, Donald Enabe and Alfie Fernandez.

All except for Fernandez suffered gunshot wounds.

It was reported that the agents apparently mistook the victim’s van for another van driven by accomplices of a suspected drug trafficker they had earlier arrested.

He said the agents opened fire after the victims’ van refused to stop and even bumped one of the agents.

To determine what really happened, Wycoco dispatched a special three-man probe team to Ceby City, composed of Deputy Director for Regional Operations Samuel Ong, Deputy Director for Administrative Services Nestor Manataing and NBI Internal Affairs chief Lauro Reyes.

"They will look into all possible actions done during the operation. We assure the victims and the public that the investigation will seek the both and appropriate punishment will be meted out to those found guilty, said Wycoco.

Wycoco also invited the president of the Cebu Press Corps, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Cebu chapters of the Crusade Against Violence and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to join in the probe to ensure transparency.

However, the management of the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu was quick to question the impartially of the three-man panel.

In a statement, Emmanuel Gonzales, president and chief executive officer of Plantation Bay Holdings Corp. said that within hours after arriving in Cebu, the probe panel "destroyed its credibility" and in doing so, "insulted the intelligence" of Cebuanos.

According to Gonzalez, the panel immediately called a press conference, with Ong enchoing the earlier claim of Romulo Manapsal, the NBI’s Central Visayas director who has since gone on leave, that the regional office no longer has any confidential agents, thus no such agents could have been involved in the mistaken shooting.

"Everyone in town knows that Manapsal tolerated the continuance of confidential agents." Gonzalez insisted.

But Wycoco was also quick to defend the credibility of his fact-finding team.

"There was no bias. What Director Ong said was that there were no confidential agents involved (in the incident). His statement could have been misunderstood to mean that the NBI is now engaged in a cover-up (of the incident)," Wycoco told The Star.

According to Wycoco, the bureau revoked all appointments of confidential agents last July 31.

"If there were civilians involved in the incident, they are not confidential agents. They were involved without official permission and could be charged with usurpation of authority," said Wycoco.

Wycoco added that they will also look into the angle that Manapsal could have known about the involvement of civilians in the incident and yet allowed it.

According to Wycoco, should it be proven that Manapsal allowed the participation of civilians in the incident, he could face administrative charges.