EDITORIAL - Confessions

Here is a problem with suspects who own up to the crime: they tend to retract their confessions. This has happened in numerous celebrated cases, among them the brutal murder of movie star Nida Blanca.

The latest confessed killer to retract his statement is Hajarun Jamiri, a former mayor of Tuburan town in Basilan, who earlier implicated Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman and his brother Jim in the bomb attack at the Batasang Pambansa on Nov. 13. Former Basilan congressman Gerry Salapuddin has also been implicated in the bombing that killed Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar and four others. Three other suspects have been charged for what police said was an attack where Akbar was the principal target. Two of those other suspects have also recanted their confessions.

Jamiri claimed he was tortured into signing his confession. His co-accused said their affidavits were taken under duress and without the presence of a lawyer of their choice. Let’s hope police investigators have more than the affidavits of the accused to secure convictions in court and describe the case as truly closed.

Shortly after the attack, police raided what they said was a safehouse of the killers in Payatas, near the Batasan complex. Police later presented to the public pieces of evidence purportedly seized from the safe-house, which indicated that the killers were either too careless or dying to get caught by leaving incriminating evidence lying around after the crime had been committed. Apart from weapons and bomb components, the pieces of evidence included license plates, motorcycles with registration papers, ID cards and even uniforms of the House of Representatives.

Those items should make the charges stick against the accused, even if they recant their confessions. This latest retraction should remind police investigators about the perils of relying on statements, even if signed, to solve a case. Suspects and witnesses can be bought, intimidated or influenced in some other way by interested parties. Relying on signed statements can be particularly unreliable when investigators do not know the rules and suspects’ statements are taken under duress. There are modern, scientific methods of gathering evidence and pinning down criminals. The country’s investigators should wean themselves from reliance on affidavits that the next day could be worth less than toilet paper.