‘Probe secret meeting at PNP custodial center’

MANILA, Philippines — With the possibility that other Philippine National Police officers might be involved, PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. has ordered a deeper probe on the secret meeting last month between relatives of missing cockfight enthusiasts or sabungeros and the dismissed policemen implicated in the case.

Nartatez gave the directive after finding that two officers – former Highway Patrol Group spokesman Lt. Nadame Malang and former PNP Custodial Center chief Maj. Reynaldo Panebe Jr. – facilitated a clandestine meeting between the victims’ relatives and the former policemen.

The meeting allegedly happened at the PNP Custodial Center where the policemen are held in connection with the missing sabungeros case.

“Any action outside of what the PNP should do is not only a betrayal of our mandate but also of the trust and confidence of the people we serve,” Nartatez said in a statement.

He urged people who may have knowledge about the secret meetings to come forward and cooperate with the PNP investigation.

Nartatez stressed that it is a serious matter if police officers are facilitating or intervening in cases that are already in court.