NBI agent in Ong case passes polygraph test

An agent of the National Bureau of Investigation whose identification card was found in the getaway car of the kidnappers of food heiress Charmaine Dayco Ong is no longer a suspect after he passed an NBI-administered lie-detector test.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said yesterday they no longer consider Alex Advento a suspect in the Ong kidnapping case because the NBI’s polygraph experts have validated as "truthful" all his answers in the lie-detector test given last Thursday.

"He successfully hurdled the polygraph exam and he promised to help investigators in tracking down the suspected kidnappers," he said.

Wycoco said Advento admitted losing his NBI ID issued in 1996 when the director was Mariano Mison but that he did not say why it was found inside the getaway car of Ong’s kidnappers.

"He however, failed to report the loss to the bureau’s personnel office," he said. "Based on the results of the lie-detector test, we could say that he was not part of the kidnapping."

According to Wycoco, Advento vowed to help the NBI locate the owner of the car where his ID was found, which his lawyer, Carlomagno Uminga, said is an acquaintance of Advento.

Appearing at the NBI headquarters in Manila Wednesday, Advento denied any involvement in Ong’s kidnapping, saying that he was in Manila "following up some papers" on the night of June 13 when Ong was snatched.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) reported that Advento’s ID card bearing a 2X2 photograph and a business card of "Alex T. Advento" was found inside the kidnappers’ getaway car, a red Nissan Sentra with plate number TPE-218.

The car was found abandoned along Narra Street in Clarkview subdivision in Barangay Malabanias, Angeles City last Sunday.

According to the CIDG, the car was earlier seen parked in the garage of a house at 29 California Street, Villasol subdivision in Barangay Anonas in Angeles City, where three unidentified men held Ong captive on June 13 and 14.

Witnesses told police a man left the car at Narra Street at around 8 p.m. on June 15.

When police investigators checked with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), they found out that plate number TPE-218 was issued to a 1992 model Toyota Corolla registered under the name of Trinidad Velayo of 3 Rizal Street, San Pedro, Laguna.

LTO records also showed that the getaway car, whose original plate number was TRD-469, was reported stolen on Oct. 10, 1996 while the owner, Aurora Sagum, was driving it.

After police reported finding Advento’s ID in the getaway car, Wycoco immediately ordered the NBI Special Task Force and Anti-Organized Crime Division under Deputy Director for Intelligence Anthony Liongzon to investigate the matter.

"If Advento cannot satisfactorily explain why his ID card was in one of the suspects’ vehicle, then he will be considered as a suspect in the kidnapping Ong," he said. "As such, the NBI will file appropriate charges against him."

Advento spent a year at the NBI’s Metro Manila office after Wycoco revamped the bureau and he was later transferred to the NBI’s office in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Ong was kidnapped Thursday night last week as she was about to board her car near the CDO Building in Marulas, Valenzuela City.

Two days later at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Ong, 30, a dermatologist called up her family to inform them that she had escaped from the kidnappers.

Her family fetched her from Our Lady of Sorrows Parish Church in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Police said Ong’s family did not pay the kidnappers any ransom

CDO is a meat processing firm owned by Ong’s family. –Mike Frialde