Daquil seeks transfer from PAF custody

Beleaguered Air Force Col. Efren Daquil asked the Senate yesterday to protect him from surveillance after he was detained at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

The whistle-blower accused Air Force authorities of placing a spy camera in the room where he has been confined.

Daquil’s lawyer Homobono Adaza said his client is requesting that he be transferred to the custody of the Senate.

Adaza said his client had already forwarded his request for transfer to the Senate to Brig. Gen. Francisco Vila Jr., Villamor Air Base camp commander.

"He wants to be transferred to the custody of Senator (Rodolfo) Biazon... He is willing to tell all," he said in a phone interview.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said the committee on national defense and security that he chairs is open to taking Daquil into its custody if he can supply evidence and relevant information to support his allegations.

"I heard that he intends to write me a letter, and asked to be put under the custody of the Senate... At this point, the custody issue cannot be determined because we need to know what information he is ready to transmit to the Senate that could trigger a hearing," he said.

"We have yet to determine whether there is sufficient basis for the Senate custody, (like) the legal custody (sought by) Gen. Francisco Gudani and Col. Alexander Balutan."

He referred to two officers who had testified before the Senate on the "Hello, Garci" wiretapping, defying a presidential ban.

The retired Armed Forces chief said he had received information from his own sources that Daquil was being monitored through a surveillance camera inside a room of the PAF intelligence unit at Villamor Air Base.

"Instead of addressing the issue, he was put under arrest... he could be generating some sympathy from the internal audience of the AFP," he said.

Adaza said there has been no formal communication between Daquil and Biazon about the colonel’s request to be placed in Senate custody. "But the Air Force can stop him from testifying."

"There’s Executive Order 464 banning public officials from testifying before legislative inquiries without permission from Malacañang," he noted.

"In effect, it is a gag order, but it will be in his (Daquil’s) best interest not to talk to the media for now while the investigation is ongoing."

Adaza said Daquil had met with and Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes to discuss the alleged spy camera, but refused to elaborate.

The spying would amount to an invasion of Daquil’s privacy, he added.

However, Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla, Air Force information chief, said there’s nothing wrong with the installation of a spy camera inside the Air Force headquarters. — Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude