Atimonan soldiers' lawyer blasts DoJ chief over 'biased' statement

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer representing the members of the Army’s 1st Special Forces Battalion and policemen of the Quezon Provincial Police Office who were involved in the alleged rubout of 13 men at a checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon on Friday slammed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for her alleged bias against the respondents.

Lawyer Crisanto Buela said De Lima “had no business” and should have stayed away  from the reenactment of the shooting conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“We have again witnessed how the rights of the policemen and the army soldiers were violated by no less than Secretary Leila de Lima in (the) reenactment of the Atimonan encounter yesterday (Thursday) by the NBI fact-fining team. We were surprised to see Secretary de lima there with so many press people covering the event. What was supposed to have been an objective reanactment of events turned out to be a circus,” Buela told reporters at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City where police Supt. Hansel Marantan, suspended deputy chief for intelligence of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and ground commander during the supposed checkpoint encounter is confined for gunshot wounds.

Speaking for his clients, Buela said that while the NBI is under the DOJ, President Aquino ordered the NBI and not the DOJ to conduct the probe.

“We know the NBI is an attached agency of the DOJ where De Lima is the Secretary but the Secretary has absolutely no business being there  to lead the reenactment. Secretary  de Lima has forgotten that the President has tapped the NBI to conduct the fact-finding investigation and not the DOJ,” he said.

“It would have been wise and prudent for her not to interfere in the fact-finding investigation and let the NBI do its job. While the NBI director and (DILG) Secretary (Mar) Roxas have been very careful with their press statements as to the developments of the case even telling the press to wait for the outcome of the investigation, Secretary de Lima appeared to be overly excited and made a very biased statement against the police and the Army involved in the encounter by saying 'I am not convinced that it was a shoot-out.' To make matters worse, she held a press conference and told the press people present that she has yet to find an appropriate term to call it an ambush or a rubout and thereafter giggling before the press,” Buela added.

“We find it irresponsible for the secretary of Justice to be prejudging the outcome of the investigation of the NBI we are now constrained to take appropriate actions to prevent a miscarriage of justice,” Buela said.

According to Buela, should the NBI find probable cause to file criminal charges against his clients, he will recommend that the preliminary investigation of the case be handled by the Office of the Ombudsman. 

“We have written the director of the NBI requesting that should the fact-finding team recommends the filing of criminal charges against our clients the records for preliminary investigation should be forwarded to the Office of Ombudsman,” he said.

“We have requested that the preliminary investigation should be conduced by the Ombudsman and not the DOJ. For how can we get a fair chance from the DOJ when their boss had already spoken preempting everything?” Buela added.

Buela said his clients maintain that what took place at the checkpoint was a shootout and not a rubout or an ambush.

“Gusto rin nila ipaabot, hindi ito rubout, hindi ito ambush, ito ay legitimate checkpoint conducted by joint operation by the police and the military upon the request of the PNP officers. The Philippine Army, the members of the Special Forces Battalion where there to assist the PNP in the conduct of the checkpoint,” he said.

Buela also said the members of the Quezon Provincial Police Office were also present at the checkpoint on the request of Marantan.

“There was no set-up. They were fired upon. And as a matter fact,  Colonel Marantan was wounded and there was a shootout. It is not true that there was a rubout,” he said.

Meanwhile, a team from the NBI went to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City Friday to secure the pistol allegedly used by Marantan at the checkpoint shooting.

The team, led by NBI agent Rico Triste, told reporters that they will also be securing Marantan’s medical records from his personal physician as part of their investigation.