NBI ready to decode PAOCTF devices

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday it has the capability to decode the contents of electronic surveillance equipment seized recently from an alleged safehouse of former Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) agents.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said even deleted files can now be retrieved using modern computer technology.

The Philippine National Police has tapped the NBI’s expertise and facilities to decode the contents of sophisticated telephone bugging devices seized during a raid on a "listening post" in Ortigas Center in Pasig City, allegedly being manned by former task force agents loyal to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former PNP and PAOCTF chief.

Wycoco said it was likely that some sensitive files have been erased from the seized devices, but he gave assurance that the deleted files can still be retrieved.

"There is now a technology called computer autopsy that can retrieve deleted information. We are coordinating with our foreign counterparts to retrieve the deleted information," Wycoco said.

He said the program can also establish the dates when data were entered and when they were erased to avoid suspicions that the items were merely planted.

At the same time, Wycoco said he may deploy more agents from the agency’s International Police and Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes divisions, to assist the PNP in the handling of the spying gadgets seized from the PAOCTF agents and two accomplices.

Part of the investigation, Wycoco said, is to identify the hackers used by the PAOCTF in its spying operations.

Wycoco also revealed that they were looking into the possibility that the confiscated devices were used for surveillance operations on slain leftist labor leader Felimon "Popoy" Lagman and publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, who was kidnapped and murdered along with his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November last year.

"They (PAOCTF agents) could have tapped the victims’ telephones and monitored their movements before they were killed. It appears that their telephone calls have been monitored," Wycoco said.

Meanwhile, ongoing investigations showed that the PAOCTF used Clark Field in Pampanga as a laboratory for their spying operations.

This was revealed in video footage and documents surrendered by officials of Armstrack Corp. to the police probers looking into alleged illegal activities of Lacson.

"The test and demonstrations were successful and was found suitable to PAOCTF requirements," one of the documents stated.

A video footage showed members of the task force who attended the hands-on training at Clark on May 15 last year.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto said the video tape and the documents given by Ablan and De Leon will be used as evidence in filing perjury and malversation charges against Lacson.

Testifying at a recent Senate hearing, Lacson asserted that the purchase of the bugging devices did not materialize.

"With evidence on hand, we believe that we have a strong case against Lacson and his men," Gualberto said.

The video clips showed PAOCTF agents during training on the handling or the sophisticated GS-900 and digital directional finder (DDF) worth $653,116.

Erwin Oberbuchner and Hinkers Guenter, representatives of Rhode and Schwarz, administered the training and issued certificates of completion to the task force agents.

The records showed that the equipment arrived from Munich, Germany on April 22 last year.

The delivery came almost a year after Lacson and his deputies –Chief Superintendent Francisco Zubia, Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino and Magtanggol Gatdula, and Army Col. Dioscoro Reyes flew to Germany for "functional testing" of the machines.

Gualberto said PAOCTF agents, escorted by elements of the Special Action Force, picked up the spying equipment from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s cargo terminal in Pasay City.

A PAOCTF team led by Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao brought the equipment to Clark Field on May 15 last year.

The trainees were believed billeted at the Mimosa Hotel and Casino at Clark.

A copy of the purchase contract for the GS-900 bore the signatures of Gatdula representing the PAOCTF and Ablan representing Armstrack.

PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza has created a 10-member special team to investigate the alleged wiretapping activities of the PAOCTF.

Probers under Central Luzon police director Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya confiscated the P30 million worth of bugging devices in an entrapment laid after its supplier tried to sell the paraphernalia to undercover agents. — With Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude