Calimlim's men have found vault in treasure hunt site, says Adaza

Lawyer Homobono Adaza said yesterday Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim's men have found a big vault deep inside an old Japanese fortification in Barangay Bigte, Norzagaray, Bulacan.

"My informant tells me they were afraid to open it because it might be laden with booby traps. But the fact is that they've found the vault," said Adaza, who has filed a damage suit with the Quezon City regional trial court against Calimlim's group for conducting the treasure hunt on the private property.

This developed as Judge Victorino Evangelista of Quezon City RTC Branch 223 summoned Calimlim, the Armed Forces' intelligence chief and head of the anti-smuggling Task Force Aduana, to a hearing on Tuesday in connection with the P380,000 damage suit.

The court earlier had issued a temporary restraining order stopping Calimlim from continuing the treasure hunt on the property of businessman Dante Legaspi in Norgazaray.

Meanwhile, Senate President Blas Ople, who hails from Bulacan, sought yesterday a Senate inquiry into Calimlim's involvement in "dubious treasure hunts."

"What has treasure hunting got to do with intelligence work and ferreting out threats to the nation's security?" Ople asked.

He said the inquiry will look into the functions of the Presidential Security Group, which reportedly approved 12 treasure hunts by local and foreign groups when Calimlim headed it.

Calimlim's men began diggings in Legaspi's property last November, backed up by some 80 heavily armed soldiers who cordoned off the site.

The Japanese fortification sits within a four-hectare area titled to Legaspi. Adaza said Calimlim encroached on private property.

Adaza sued Calimlim on the basis of a special power of attorney Legaspi gave to lawyer Paul Gutierrez to file charges against anyone who searches for treasure in the property without their consent.

Legaspi, however, now wants to get out of the legal mess after discovering that Calimlim is involved in the project. The businessman said he now fears for his life.

Calimlim's office furnished reporters yesterday a handwritten sworn statement by Legaspi that he has ordered a brother to draw up a document revoking the special power of attorney he gave to Gutierrez.

Legaspi reiterated he has nothing to do with the damage suit, which also named as respondents retired Army Col. Ciriaco Reyes and Lt. Col. David Diciano, an officer of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) who reportedly leads the soldiers guarding the property.

Calimlim said there was nothing irregular in the treasure hunt. He said he gave the permit to Reyes to hunt for treasure in the Norzagaray property as then chief of the PSG, the government's official representative in agreements with prospectors of treasure hunts.

In the closing stages of the Second World War, Japanese forces transformed the marble- and limestone-rich hill in Barangay Bigte into a network of bunkers, the biggest of which was the Tanaka Tunnel.

The treasure trove reportedly consists of gold bars, golden buddhas and other precious metals.

Calimlim's office also released yesterday a handwritten statement in Tagalog purportedly by Erwin Padura, one of the diggers who claimed he was abducted last Feb. 15 by Gutierrez, a certain Dondon Dinglasan and Ka Felix from his house in Sapang Palay, Bulacan.

During his 15-day captivity, Padura said he was grilled daily on the progress of the treasure hunt, and was later asked to gather some documents.

After doing what they requested, Padura said he asked permission to buy cigarettes. But he said he did not return and instead went home.

Padura said his abductors later threatened to kill his family if he reported the incident to the authorities. - With Efren Danao, Paolo Romero