Cebu City police chief probed on ‘cover-up’ try

CEBU CITY — The National Bureau of Inves—tigation (NBI) has created a five-man team to study the possible filing of charges against city police chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo for an alleged attempt to cover up a supposedly questionable drug buy-bust in Lapu-Lapu City.

Acting NBI regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda said he will personally lead the team, along with lawyers Hermie Monsanto and Reynan Oliva.

Should evidence warrant it, he said charges would be filed against Sandalo in court.

Esmeralda said Sandalo’s alleged cover-up is glaring when he signed an antedated pre-operational report of the drug buy-bust by PO3 Paquito Monterroyo.

He said his experience tells him that a pre-operational report should be prospective, meaning that dates move forward, not backward.

He said Sandalo and Marvin Sanchez, vice control section chief of the city police, signed the report on Aug. 12, the same day of Monterroyo’s arrest, but it indicated that the alleged surveillance of Monterroyo actually started on Aug. 5, an irregular procedure for such a report.

The NBI also found out the other day that Monterroyo did not coordinate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on his supposed drug buy-bust, in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Sandalo, for his part, said he is willing to face any charges that the NBI would file against him, stressing that he never attempted to cover up Monterroyo’s alleged liability. There might have been lapses committed in the report but it did not follow that there was a cover-up, he said.

"If that’s their plan, then that’s their plan. We just have to answer it. But may I just say there was no cover-up. I’d like to emphasize that," Sandalo said.

Monterroyo was arrested in an entrapment last Aug. 12 in Lapu-Lapu City for allegedly extorting money from Mino Disomundeg, a Muslim trader, who Monterroyo’s group claimed was a big-time drug pusher.

Monterroyo said his contact with Disomundeg was not for extortion but for a pre-plan operation prior to apprehending the trader.

Sandalo lashed back at the NBI’s maneuverings, saying, "I think it is very premature for them to say that. They are testing my integrity."

He said Sanchez signed the report in the early morning of Aug. 12 because Monterroyo initially thought the operation would be finalized that day.

Sandalo, however, said, "We are handling this matter like mature people. Ordinarily, this will sour up relationships but not us."

He said both the police and the NBI are coordinating with each other to carry out justice in the case.

"They can say anything under the sun. It’s a non-issue. We can talk about that and clarify matters in the end," Sandalo said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he would boot out Sandalo and Sanchez once they are both proven to be liable in the case.

Osmeña said he has asked for a copy of the report from Esmeralda and would consult old hands in the police force to know the proper procedures in issuing such a report. — Freeman News Service