Ombudsman suspends NBI-Central Visayas head, 5 agents

CEBU CITY — The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has placed the Central Visayas director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and five of his agents, who were implicated in the botched drugs operation last Dec. 13, under six-month preventive suspension.

The suspension order, issued by Ombudsman director Virginia Palanca-Santiago and approved by Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Primo Miro the other day, came three days after criminal and administrative charges were filed against NBI regional director Romulo Manapsal and his five agents.

NBI agents Angelito Magno, Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay, Rey Tumalon and Teodoro Saavedra were implicated in the operation that nearly killed six employees of the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.

Manapsal, who immediately went on leave after the incident, was suspended for allegedly obstructing the investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on the 14 confidential agents who reportedly took part in the mistaken shooting and whose identities have not been divulged until now.

Santiago said that during a press conference two days after the shooting incident, Manapsal only identified the five regular agents and "intentionally concealed" the identities of the other suspects, "with intent to impair (their) availability during the police probe and by some other acts prevent the identification, arrest and possible prosecution of these individuals."

Last Friday, the CIDG charged the five regular agents with multiple frustrated murder and attempted murder. Also charged were confidential agents Paul Lauro and Joey Cal and 12 others who were identified only as John Does.

Citing the Ombudsman Act, Santiago said the anti-graft office may preventively suspend any officer or employee pending an investigation if the evidence of guilt is strong and if the charge against the respondents involves grave misconduct.

The preventive suspension was imposed because their continued stay in office may prejudice the case filed against them, the Ombudsman said.

With the suspension order, the Ombudsman ordered the respondents to file their counter-affidavits by also indicating their respective designation, salary grade and addresses, within 10 days from receipt of the order.

The NBI agents, in an alleged drug operation, strafed a Mitsubishi L-300 van where Plantation Bay employees Michael Monsod, Nenette Castillon, Gian Carlo Cajoles, Esther Luz Mae Gregorio, Donaldo Enabe and Alfie Fernandez were riding in.

An arrested female drug suspect allegedly told the agents that her drug supplier was riding in a van, which fit the description of the van which Monsod, the resort’s sports manager, was driving that day.

Upon seeing the van, the NBI agents allegedly flagged it down without identifying themselves. The resort workers said they thought the agents were robbers, prompting them to speed away, leading to a wild chase.

While in pursuit, the agents fired furiously at the van and, witnesses claimed, they kept on firing even after the van had come to a halt.

Police found 73 bullet holes on the van. The Plantation Bay employees, reportedly on their way home from a party, were wounded, except for Fernandez who was miraculously unscathed.

Meanwhile, Manny Gonzalez and Jose Palma, Plantation Bay’s chief executive officer and lawyer, respectively, have asked assistance from the CIDG for their personal security.

But being short on manpower, CIDG-Region 7 chief investigator Enrique Lacerna has referred the matter to the Cebu City police even as he confirmed that Gonzalez and Palma have not received any death threats to justify the need for police security. — Freeman News Service