3 QC cops tagged in kidnap-slay face dismissal

MANILA, Philippines –  The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has started proceedings for the dismissal from the police force of three Quezon City police officers linked to the Dec. 20, 2010 kidnap-slay of the associates of Indian national Manjinder “James” Khumar.

Khumar was also kidnapped but managed to escape from his abductors. The bodies of his two associates, Ferdinand Ret and Andy Brian Ngie, were later found in Bataan and Pangasinan provinces.

NCRPO chief Director Nicanor Bartolome said dismissal proceedings against accused Chief Inspector Edwin Faycho, head of the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) anti-illegal drugs unit; Police Officer 2 Edmund Faculdar; and PO1 Mark Edward Zapata have been set in motion after the NCRPO’s pre-charge board issued its recommendation.

“We conducted the pre-charge proceeding here at the NCRPO and not at the QCPD to brush aside doubts of a whitewash,” Bartolome said, adding that the three accused police officers have already been disarmed and were placed under “restrictive custody” at the QCPD.

In the wake of the incident, Bartolome also earlier ordered the disbandment of the QCPD anti-illegal drugs unit with an order to place all its personnel under restrictive custody.

Aside from the three Quezon City police officers, also implicated in the case were alleged National Bureau of Investigation asset Charles Philip Lou and Indian nationals Gurdanshan Singh, Saudagar Singh, Deepak Kumar (no relation to the victim) and Baldev Singh Brar.

The accused Quezon City police officers also face attempted kidnapping and frustrated homicide for the foiled abduction and shooting of Khumar; direct assault and frustrated murder for the shooting of Senior Inspector Renato Apolinario, who came to Khumar’s aid; and car theft for commandeering Ngie’s Mazda Friendee van (BDM-479), which still remains missing.

QCPD: No operations outside of city

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele yesterday ordered all district operating units to cease and desist from conducting any police operation outside of Quezon City after the QCPD’s anti-drug unit was reported to be involved in the kidnap attempt on Khumar and the murder of his two associates.

“If it cannot be avoided and it is necessary, it should be cleared with the QCPD director first,” Mantele told The STAR yesterday.

Mantele also said that Faycho, Faculdar and Zapata and three other colleagues in the District Anti-Illegal Drug-Special Operations Task Group (DAID-SOTG) are not in jail despite being charged for the crime.

“We will put them in jail (Quezon City Jail) if they were caught in the act. But in their case, the three officers are not under arrest and are not in jail. They will have to undergo the usual preliminary investigation and evaluation by the prosecutors office who will determine if the case will be dismissed or heard in a trial,” Mantele said.

If the case is recommended for trial, only then will a warrant for the suspects’ arrest be issued by the court and that is the time they go to jail, Mantele explained.

Mantele said the rest of the members of the DAID-SOTG not implicated or charged in the same cases will undergo “retraining” at QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal.

He said he is in the process of clearing with superiors the “restrictive custody” issue on the three other DAID cops earlier implicated in the case together with Faycho and two others but were not charged in court.

Mantele added that aside from temporarily relieving all members of the anti-drug unit, suspending all operations, and disarming them, he has also seized their police badges.