Ramos kin raps CIDG men over raid

DIFFUN, Quirino — It was the bust that went pfft.

Several members of the 202nd Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based in Santiago City, Isabela are now facing administrative charges at the National Police Commission for raiding the house of a maternal relative of former President Fidel Ramos based on a false tip.

The house, owned by Virgilio Allas, state auditor II of the Commission on Audit (COA) in this province, was supposedly holding several firearms and ammunition.

But the CIDG raiding team, led by Senior Inspector Romeo de Guzman, only seized a plastic pellet gun and various empty shells of an M-16 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol and caliber .38 revolver which turned out to be part of a criminology school project of Allas’ son, Ruel.

"In heaven’s name, why do I (need) to keep guns? I don’t have enemies and my family is living peacefully," said Allas, who was named COA’s Most Outstanding Man of the Year in 2002.

CIDG’s post-operation report showed that a series of surveillance operations on Allas’ home were conducted based on a tip that he allegedly possessed several guns and ammunition.

Two agents, SPO1 Rogelio Tuzon and PO1 Lauro Guillermo, posed as car agents and went to the Allas residence in an attempt to verify the information.

However, despite negative results of the surveillance, the local CIDG branch in this province still applied for a search warrant.

Last June 19, De Guzman and his men swooped down on Allas’ home armed with an authorization from Judge Moises Pardo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 31 in Cabarroguis town.

Senior Superintendent Manuel de los Reyes, Quirino police director, expressed amusement and disbelief over what he called "an intelligence lapse" of the CIDG men.

Despite the result of the raid, SPO3 George Agustin of the local CIDG office filed a complaint against Allas with the Municipal Trial Court here for his alleged "possession of a pellet gun without license or permit from (a) competent authority…"

But a lawyer of the Public Attorney’s Office, who requested anonymity, doubted that the case would prosper.

"I have yet to find a law penalizing one who possesses a pellet gun and empty gun shells," he said.