Condemnation by publicity

The way Human Rights Commission Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano announced that his Commission in a February 28 resolution has recommended the filing of charges against former Interior Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, former Philippine National Police Director General Edgardo D. Aglipay, PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao and Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco Jr. for the police allegedly having gunned down unarmed inmates in the camp Bagong Diwa violent "escape" affair last year is very strange.

CHR Commissioner Soriano’s pugnacious statements made it sound as though he and the other commissioners had already pronounced the policemen who attacked the prison in order to retake it from the barricaded Moro would-be escapees "guilty" without their even having been given their day in court.

The funny thing is that Soriano and his group apparently based their conclusions on testimonies and affidavits made by other Muslim inmates who had been in the same detention area. It seems that they did not give either Secretary Reyes or the policemen an opportunity to give their side. Yet, Soriano and the other commissioners had plenty of time in which to conduct their investigation since their end of February report had been drawn up a full 11 months after the Bicutan incident.

By coincidence, PNP Director General Lomibao dropped by to see me yesterday morning and when I questioned him about the Commission on Human Rights’ accusation he told me that, indeed, he was surprised at Soriano’s conclusions since he had never been asked by Soriano, whom he personally knows rather well, to testify or answer questions on the matter.

If that’s true, then we can only surmise that the CHR inquiry had been one-sided. Not just that. Why did Commissioner Soriano’s witnesses happen to be all Muslims, fellow detainees of the slain Abu Sayyaf leaders and other Moro prisoners? As for the detainees having been unarmed when they were shot down how come one Special Action Force trooper had been killed during the encounter?

I happened to catch the television interview yesterday, in which ANC anchorman and newscaster Ricky Carandang had politely but intensely questioned Soriano about how he had come to his conclusion that Reyes and the policemen must be charged in court. Ricky zeroed in on the fact that the bulk of the testimony appeared to have been affidavits submitted by Muslim detainees who had been inside the detention building during the assault.

Had Soriano checked out the facts? Carandang queried. The CHR Commisioner replied that it would be up to the Department of Justice to verify the truth and the reliability of the accusations made by the inmates’ affidavits. Gee whiz.

I’m not saying that none of the detainees gunned down by the counter-attacking policemen of the SWAT and Special Action Force were shot down in cold blood. An honest-to-goodness investigation, if you ask me, may not even be capable of verifying this. If one has never been in a firefight, he may find it difficult to understand what happens when bullets are flying everywhere.

The fact is that several of the Abu Sayyaf detainees had disarmed their prison guards and seized other weapons earlier and were, therefore, armed and dangerous. One of the allegations made by the inmates is that policemen deliberately went to the cell of the notorious Commander Robot (whose leg had been amputated) and shot him to death while he lay helpless. Who knows, even with only one leg, this guy Robot, who had abducted many hapless victims and killed a number of them, might have been armed, making him as dangerous as ever.

As for the other prominent Abu Sayyaf fatality, "Brother" Kosovo alias Alhamzer Limbong, he was among the worst of the lot. He was one the leaders of the Abu group which descended on the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan at the crack of dawn on May 27, 2001, and dragged-off 60 foreign tourists, Filipino holidaymakers, and resort personnel, cramming them into a 75-foot outrigger. The Abu Sayyaf abductors took their captives initially to Basilan. Among the kidnap victims were the American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and another American, Guillermo Sobero, as well as a number of prominent Filipino executives. A security guard was beheaded during the flight, then the Dos Palmas cook. The unfortunate American tourist Sobero, a contractor from California, was beheaded on the 16th day, on June 11, 2001. Kosovo had been pinpointed as the one who beheaded Sobero, as well as having committed many other atrocities. So we need not mourn for him.

The greatest tragedy of all is that after Martin and Gracia Burnham had survived being held captive for over a year, living that terrifying period on the run (Martin was chained to a tree every night), the American missionary was killed in the exchange of gunfire when army troops finally cornered their Abu Sayyaf captors in Siraway, Zamboanga Del Norte on June 7, 2002 and attacked to rescue them. Gracia survived to write a touching account of their ordeal which became a bestseller, entitled "In the Presence of my Enemies". Gracia and Martin, members of the New Tribes Mission in the Philippines, had lived and worked in our country for 17 years growing to love and care for Filipinos. Despite her heartbreak, she loves us still. That’s what she said when she returned home to her children and friends in Kansas City, Missouri. God bless her.

By all means, if there is really prima facie evidence of an alleged massacre, Secretary Reyes and the police generals and other participating cops should be charged in court. My own view is that there was no such massacre. I think it was eminently unfair that they were practically "convicted" by publicity in the contemptuous manner CHR Commissioner Soriano so categorically condemned them in his public announcement.

Methinks, that too often our self-righteous Human Rights activists have more concern for hoodlums and criminals than for their victims, or for the policemen who risk their lives to get those rats.

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Actually, General Art Lomibao and this writer did not dwell on Soriano’s accusations in our meeting yesterday. What I told our PNP Director General and Chief of Police is that our policemen ought to pay more attention to street crime which has escalated alarmingly and affects our citizens with more immediate impact than the present, noisy political turmoil.

For example, only last Wednesday a friend of ours, Mrs. Olive Lumanta had been walking along Wilson Street near Greenhills, when two men on a motorcycle suddenly stopped right beside her. The fellow riding the passenger seat grabbed her handbag and the two fled in their motorcycle towards Shaw Boulevard. Olive couldn’t shout for help because that portion of the street was not a main thoroughfare, and there were no commercial establishments around, only private residences with high walls. She didn’t even get a chance to note down the motorcycle’s plate number since the snatcher had covered it with a folder.

The poor victim lost in her handbag P5,000 worth of SM gift cheques, her personal checkbook, P15,000 in cash and US $18 in loose bills. The following day, an employee of Manulife in Ayala called Olive to inform her that they had found a cardholder containing her children’s Valucare Health cards, her voter’s and OBMC ID in front of their residence along P. Bautista and P. Ocampo streets in Malate, Manila.

Robbery by motorbike has become a daily occurrence everywhere in Metro Manila, just as murder by motorbike seems to have become fashionable. A more vigorous and alert police presence in the form of patrol cars and motorcycle police is called for. Alas, our policemen in the city are kept busy trying to cope with snap demonstrations or black t-shirt wearing KSP types. What a country!

Another kind of vicious robbery is also on the rise. There is a group of holdup men who force their victims to go to ATM machines and compel them to give them their pin numbers. These crooks usually operate in pairs with one of them withdrawing the cash while the other stands close to the victim, perhaps with an ice-pick concealed in his hand, pretending to be a companion, but whispering a stern warning to the victim to appear calm and not make any trouble.

In other incidents, a victim hails a taxi cab. Once the victim is inside the cab, two men suddenly come in while the driver’s pushes the automatic "lock" so the victim is trapped inside. The driver later drops the victim off in a secluded place, once the mark has been divested of cash and other valuables. The robbers usually pick on women since they are less expected to fight back. We know of one victim who took a taxi cab near McDonald’s in Greenhills only the other day, so it’s clear that the racket continues to flourish in even the busiest areas.

I also recounted the following incident to General Lomibao and Col. Lory Dino (retired), now a broadcaster for Radio Veritas, who accompanied him. Two months ago, three men got on a G-Liner bus bound for Cainta. One positioned himself beside the entrance of the bus holding a gun. The second one, brandishing a grenade, went to the back of the bus as a look-out. The third one went up and down "collecting" all cellphones, as well as, jewelry and cash. The terrified passengers had no recourse but to surrender their valuables. The loot was stashed by the holdup men inside a backpack. On reaching Big-R (Robinson’s in Cainta) the three hoodlums got off the bus, warning driver, conductor and commuters not to report what happened to the police because they said there was still a look-out following them.

Similar incidents occur frequently. One of our acquaintances was victimized in the same manner aboard the bus only four days ago.

I wish our policemen had more time to act as policemen. But the political turbulence engendered by the Oust Gloria activists seems to occupy too much police attention nowadays. While our cops are busy with riot shield and helmet, who’s out there protecting the common folk?

And what about the threat of another terrorist bombing or attack? The Abu Sayyaf and Jemmaah Islamiyah have been eerily silent the past few months, but don’t ever be foolish enough to think that they are sleeping. One day, I fear, we may be brought back to our senses with a loud bang.

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When all is said and done, General Lomibao who has been in his post for only one year has been doing his level best.

He is one police chief who is not desk-bound but zips all over the place, personally following up each incidence of crime, be it murder, kidnapping, or NPA agaw armas raid. I’m amazed at his stamina. One day he is in Pangasinan, the next day in Mindanao, or the Visayas. In short, he’s a hands-on cop. It’s not surprising, though, that he’s an action man. As a former Philippine Constabulary officer, he led the group which captured the most dreaded New People’s Army commander, the almost-legendary Commander Dante, alias Bernabe Buscayno. (After serving his prison term, Buscayno became a peaceful farmer and spent many years organizing farmers’ cooperatives and other self-help projects).

What’s dismaying is that, after so short a tenure, Lomibao is scheduled to retire on his next birthday, July 27 – at the youthful age of only 56. Imagine that. If he does so on the due date, he will have served only a year and a half as PNP Chief. How can any PNP Director General reform or revitalize our force of 105,000 policemen in only one and a half years? His predecessor, retired PNP Chief (General) Edgardo B. Aglipay was even more pathetic. Egay, a tough policeman himself, served for just one year!

To be effective, a police chief must have at least three or four years, otherwise his tenure becomes a joke. The crooked cops in our police establishment (sad to say there are many) simply have to wait for Lomibao’s term to end in order to smugly resume their corrupt operations. Indeed, most of them never stopped since they now regard the "reforming" Lomibao as a lame-duck.

Will La Presidenta, eager to please the several police generals next in line, who are openly lusting for the job, retire Art Lomibao on July 27? In our last meeting, I urged GMA to give him another two years to finish the job on which he has embarked. Alas, she may be a "transactional president" as her critics and enemies have dubbed her, but I hope that somehow she will see the logic of keeping a police chief who’s energetic, dedicated and two-fisted in place and not give in to politicking.

* * *

Senator Fred Lim told me that he is determined to run for mayor of Manila next year. He hopes to "retake" the city he loves and believes that his chance to do so will be in 2007. Fred was a two-fisted mayor for two terms. Then, he decided to run for President in a field which included Joseph Estrada, Joe De Venecia, Raul Roco and other rivals. When he did so, I feel rather guilty of having convinced him to resign as Manila mayor beforehand and turn the mayorship over to his then Vice Mayor Lito Atienza. When Lim did so, he extracted a promise from Lito that the latter would not remove his personal appointees from major positions in the city. Atienza promised Lim to honor that arrangement.

"By gosh!" Fred exploded when he recalled what subsequently happened almost immediately after he relinquished the mayorship. "Lito didn’t even wait one week. He immediately junked all my friends and appointees and replaced them with his own tutas!"

During the term of President Estrada, Lim served as Secretary of Interior and Local Government and did a slambang job in that position. After all, as a former Police General and Chief of Police (Western Police District) then Director of the National Bureau of Investigation, bringing the NBI to new heights of vigor and credibility, Lim was a great cop. His heart, however, remained in Manila – and it was a heavy heart. He was determined to punish Atienza for what he termed "his treachery". That’s why he tried to run for Manila Mayor anew. This time the cards were stacked against him. I suggested that he run for Senator instead, for he was a shoo-in. I reminded Fred that this time Lito Atienza had control of City Hall, with all its resources, and had established his own powerful barangay network within the city. But Fred could not be deterred. He ran – and lost.

Atienza’s term is now running out, owing to constitutionally-imposed term limits. I believe Lito intends to run for Congressman and field his son, Kim for mayor. Kim though doesn’t have his father’s personality or chutzpah. Fred, although he was one of the topnotchers when elected to the Senate, is now ready, he says, to fight to reclaim Manila. Go for it then, Fred!

Lim thinks that there may be more candidates vying for that premier position. Ping Lacson? What about former Manila Congressman Mark Jimenez who was extradited to America in disgrace but came back in "glory"? Jimenez (alias Crespo) claims he is now in his monastic period and was last photographed wearing a monk’s robes but there’s no telling whether the call of ambition could call him out of the "monastery" into the hurly-burly of politics and intrigue to which he is more suited.

Oh well. In our spinning political world, nothing will surprise me after so many years of covering its twists and turns. The more, the merrier!

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THE ROVING EYE…The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which prints our passport has confirmed that one of the passports submitted by former COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to a joint House of Representatives inquiry is "fake". Don’t tell me you’re surprised. . . As you know, I’m against televising any court room hearing, or Committee hearing of either House or Senate, or any congressional session. However, I wish – being occasionally inconsistent – that last Wednesday’s testimony before the Sandiganbayan by former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada had been televised. Erap has been taking it on the chin, TV-wise, for five long years of his imprisonment. I believe his day in court, at last, ought to have been put on television. Anyway, Erap, ham actor that he always was, is a joy to watch on the small screen, just as he was as big action star on the big screen. He’s got stage presence, and a mischievous wit, and at his best is vastly entertaining. Anyway, he deserves to be given a chance to give the nation his "side" of the story. Now that the trial is beginning to move, it must be speedily conducted and a final verdict rendered by the Sandiganbayan. Remember the earnest legal maxim: Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. This case has been delayed too long.