CEBU, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation has extended its full cooperation to the investigation that the Commission on Human Rights has embarked following insinuations that the members of the notorious Alvin Flores Robbery Gang were summarily executed and were not killed in an encounter.
NBI regional director Medardo De Lemos has given to the CHR all the documents relative to their operation which resulted to the death of the ring leader Alvin Flores, his right-hand Ritchie Hijapon, Roger Sanchez and Marc Salamanca.
The NBI operatives wanted to serve the warrant of arrest for robbery against Flores and illegal possession of firearms against Rene Batiencela when the suspects shoot it out with the law enforcers.
After the exchange of gunshots, Flores and three others were found dead while Batiencela was arrested.
Among the documents furnished by De Lemos to CHR Special Investigator Primo Cadampog include the necropsy report, ballistics and the warrants of arrest that the NBI operatives served to Flores and Batiencela.
The CHR is looking into the incident because of the newspaper report quoting unnamed sources insinuating human rights violations, saying there was no gun battle because the suspects were already in custody of the NBI.
The unnamed sources that a local newspaper quoted insinuated that the incident was a rubout. But the NBI maintained it was a legitimate operation and that the death of the suspected robbers was a result of a gun battle.
The NBI also have proofs that the Flores group was in Cebu not for rest and recreation after the successful Rolex Watch store robbery in Makati last month but for another possible robbery operation.
In fact, the NBI was able to obtain at least eight possible targets of the group in Cebu which was retrieved from the cellular phone of Hijapon. — Fred P. Languido/WAB (FREEMAN NEWS)