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CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – A local politician has been identified as the mastermind in the burning of a schoolhouse in Taysan, Batangas that left three people dead and several others injured last May 15.
The regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) here said there are indications that the local politician ordered the burning of the school in an effort to declare a failure of elections in the town. The school housed the polling precinct.
Investigators refused to identify the mastermind but said the local politician is a losing candidate who wanted to erase the winning votes so that a failure of elections would be declared.
“We are still consolidating all evidence and trying to look for several witnesses before we file charges against the politician,” a CIDG investigator said.
The investigator, who requested anonymity, said one of the suspects has offered to cooperate after admitting his participation in the attack.
Nellie Banaag, teacher of
Another poll watcher, Guillermo Malauan, also succumbed from injuries six days after.
Twelve others, most of them poll watchers and Banaag’s daughter Richelle, were also injured in the blaze.
The armed men reportedly ordered the teachers and poll watchers to lie on the floor while the others poured gasoline on the walls and doors of the rooms before setting the school on fire.
The declaration made by the CIDG investigator confirmed the initial suspicions that a local politician ordered the attack.
The CIDG investigator said they have already established the motive of the attack which led to the identity of the politician.
The suspects were hired by the politician just to terrorize the counting of votes in the school, the CIDG investigator said.
The CIDG is still verifying information that the politician paid P3 million to the suspects.
Last week, Inspector Roberto Marinda and SPO2 William Relos, two members of the police Regional Special Operation Group (RSOG) were charged with murder and arson after they were identified by witnesses as among those who torched down the school building.
Witnesses also said the two police officers were seen in the company of Taysan mayoral candidate Hernando Villena days before the burning of the school.
Romeo Esmero, legal counsel of the two police officers, claimed it was the winning candidate who ordered the attack.
According to Esmero, they have a witness who saw several armed men torch the school building and board two vehicles, a white Nissan Safari with a license number 264 and a pick-up van (VAP-111) during their escape.
Esmero claimed they later traced the ownership of the vehicles to newly elected Taysan Mayor Victor Portugal.
Esmero said the witness, Roberto Villena Manalo, a barangay watchman has already given his testimony detailing how four men staged the attack.
Manalo said he saw four men alight from the vehicle dragging a big plastic bag with them and proceed to the other side of the school building.
“Just a few minutes after they arrived, the school went on fire,” Esmero said.
Esmero insisted the two police officers have been sacrificed to cover-up a bigger and deeper conspiracy behind the incident.
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