Yearender: Maguindanao massacre tops NBI case folder

MANILA, Philippines - The cold-blooded killing of 57 people in Maguindanao was the most prominent case handled by the National Bureau of Investigation in 2009, certainly bigger than any of the 42,855 cases handled by the NBI in the first three quarters of the year.

The NBI has yet to submit its last quarter report.

About three weeks after the Maguindanao massacre, the NBI recommended to the Department of Justice the filing of multiple murder, robbery and damage to property charges against Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., his father Maguindanao Gov. Andal Sr., and more than 500 other suspects.

Three days after the massacre, Ampatuan Jr. surrendered to authorities. He is now detained at the NBI jail in Manila.

Security around the NBI headquarters has been tightened, with reinforcements from the Manila police, following intelligence reports that partisans intend to spring Ampatuan Jr.

Ampatuan Sr. was tagged as the "real brains" in the murders based on a sworn statement by Ampatuan town Vice Mayor Rasul Sangki on Dec. 11, 2009.

A copy of the 12-page statement obtained by The STAR showed that Ampatuan Jr. only received orders from the Ampatuan patriarch.

The statement was executed before Special Investigator Roger La Sususco in the presence of NBI Regional Director Ricardo Diaz.

Police and the NBI have named Ampatuan Jr. as the principal suspect in the mass murder, the worst election-related violence in the country's history.

In another case, the NBI has secured high-profile suspects-turned-witnesses in the murders of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

Former police senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II and former police superintendent Glenn Dumlao were at the NBI headquarters in Manila before being transferred to two different safehouses in undisclosed places after being taken into justice department's Witness Protection Program.

Mancao and Dumlao, who were linked to the kidnapping and murder of Dacer and Corbito, were kept at the NBI for their security.

Dumlao was later dropped as a respondent in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

Two lawyers of accused Dumlao, Morel Callueng and Rogelio Agoot, alleged that former President Joseph Estrada gave direct orders to "neutralize" Dacer.

Quoting Dumlao's affidavit, Callueng said his client noted that as an investigator, he is morally convinced that Estrada was the one who ordered Dacer killed.

When asked whether Estrada ordered the murder, Callueng said that "everything encompasses the operations. When you say neutralize, in military parlance, that is killing."

Callueng said based on Dumlao's affidavit, it appeared that Estrada gave direct orders to former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino, then operations chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, to implement Oplan Delta, code name of the plan to neutralize Dacer.

"There are portions that were corroborating in the affidavits of Dumlao and Mancao," he said.

"The participation of Glenn (Dumlao) here is deeper than the participation of Mancao. What Glenn told us here earlier is that Dacer and Estrada have not settled the issue."

Callueng said this was one of the possible motives for the "neutralization" of Dacer.

"If you base what Glenn said, it is more a Malacañang operation rather than General (Panfilo) Lacson's operation," he said.

Callueng said Lacson's statement is accurate that there were instances that Estrada went directly to Lacson's people without coordinating with him, based on Dumlao's affidavit.

Agoot said, "It turns out now that Erap has something to do with the killing of Dacer."

Sex video

The NBI also hogged the headlines in probing the controversial sex video of cosmetic surgeon Hayden Kho Jr. and actress-model Katrina Halili.

While the NBI had already recommended that Kho be charged with violation of Republic Act 9262, the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, when the video became public, it has just started its second phase of investigation on the "uploading and distribution" of the sex video.

Kho and his former girlfriend Dr. Vicki Belo would be investigated again.

Lawyer Raymund Palad, Halili's legal counsel, said four more names were added to the list of "personalities" to be probed in the second phase of the NBI investigation.

A total of nine people will be investigated by the NBI to determine their culpability in the uploading of the sex video on the Internet and its mass distribution.

The new list includes Cris Arenas, described by Kho as the son of socialite Rosemarie "Baby" Arenas; a certain Cedric Lee; computer expert Manuel "Boyet" Villaroman, owner of Villman Computers; and Joey Umandap, an employee of the Belo Medical Group, Inc.

However, Palad said these names did not come from them but cropped up during hearings at the Department of Justice and the Professional Regulation Commission.

"We also got a copy of the audio tape where conversations were heard," he said.

"We are just following up the directive of the DOJ to have this investigated - to investigate these other persons."

Halili, together with Palad and another lawyer, Mamyrlito Tan, appeared at the office of NBI Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division chief Vicente de Guzman III in the wake of the DOJ resolution recommending further probe of Belo, Kho, Erick Johnston Chua, Dr. Mark Herbert "Bistek" Rosario, and Princess Marie Velasco.

Belo, Kho, Chua, Rosario and Velasco were earlier investigated by the NBI in the first phase of the case, which was the filming of the sex video.

Last Nov. 5, the NBI charged Belo and two other cosmetic surgeons before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office for the alleged botched butt augmentation procedure on a female patient.

In a five-page report, NBI head agent Ross Bautista, Office of the Deputy Director for Intelligence Service executive officer, recommended the prosecution of Belo, Dr. Ronaldo Cayetano and Dr. Francis Decangchon, who is no longer connected with the Belo Medical Group.

The charges were filed based on a complaint by Belo's patient Josefina Norcio.

Bautista recommended that Belo be charged with estafa, reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries, tax evasion, and false, deceptive or misleading advertisement.

Bautista also recommended that Decangchon and Cayetano be charged with reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries.

Bautista said Belo was charged with estafa for "falsely misrepresenting to complainant Norcio that hydrogel, the substance used in the butt augmentation, is safe."

She was charged with "reckless imprudence resulting to physical injuries for the preparation of the procedure for the hydrogel injection, which was the proximate cause leading to the serious physical injuries suffered by Norcio, and causing deformation in her body."

Belo was charged with tax evasion "for failure to issue official receipts for the P120,000 payment made by Norcio for the operations."

The NBI said Belo was also found labile for violating the Consumer Act of the Philippines "for false, deceptive or misleading advertisement in the Internet that hydrogel is perfectly safe when it is not."

Interpol help

In another case, the NBI will seek the Interpol's help in case Jason Ivler, the suspect in the killing of a Malacañang official's son, would try to leave the country.

Lawyer Angelito Magno, NBI Special Action Unit chief, had denied an earlier report that Ivler had already left the country.

Ivler has been tagged in the murder of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr., son of Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr. of the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff in Malacañang.

"There's no confirmation that Ivler has fled out of the country," he said. "The reports are inaccurate."

Magno said they are tapping the services of Interpol because they want to ensure that their counterparts overseas are aware of the possibility that Ivler might flee the country.

He described Ivler as a "flight risk," and that precautionary measures must be taken.

"Asking the help of the Interpol has always been a standard operating procedure being made by NBI for suspects whom we consider as flight risk or has the capability to go abroad and hide from their case. But rest assured, Ivler is still in the country," he said.

News reports said Ivler might use the "backdoor" as an escape route, noting his family's influence and financial capability, to leave the country undetected or under an assumed name.

The NBI would wait for the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to issue another warrant of arrest against Ivler for them to prepare their request to the Interpol.

A hold departure order against Ivler still stands and an arrest warrant is still in effect for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

Ivler was also involved in a traffic accident in 2004 that killed Resettlement Undersecretary Nestor Ponce.

Ivler jumped bail and the reckless imprudence case has been filed before Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Maria Rowena San Pedro.

Magno assured the public they are closely monitoring Ivler to ensure he would not escape.

An online news report said that Ivler may be a subject of an Interpol Red Notice, used for the provisional arrest of wanted persons, with a view to extradition.

Records leak

The NBI also investigated the leak of the medical records of President Arroyo at the Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Lawyer Allan Contado, NBI spokesman, said based on the NBI investigation, Dr. Ma. Niza Bermudez Reyes had unauthorized access to the records of Mrs. Arroyo.      

"Reyes ordered to access the files of the patient," he said.

Contado said Reyes instructed administrative assistant Alnie Musngi Medina and clinical assistant Jenna Lyn Chan Cruz to open Mrs. Arroyo's records.

Others also gained access to the files, he added.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring, Assistant Regional Director Vicente de Guzman III, and AFCCD executive officer Agent Palmer Mallari had refused to make any official statement about the case.

They had been evasive about the issue until reports of their investigation also leaked. More than 70 people had access to the medical records of Mrs. Arroyo.

Contado said the NBI did not recommend the filing of charges against those involved in the leak.

"We just submitted our findings," he said. "It is up to Asian Hospital to file appropriate charges."

Contado said the NBI will stand by their findings, although he declined to provide reporters a copy of the NBI report forwarded to Asian Hospital chief executive officer Theo Seiler.

The NBI report submitted to Asian Hospital cannot be considered a "public document" because it has not yet been filed in court, he added.

Those liable for the leak can be charged with violation of the Electronics Device Act, Contado said.

Reyes, through her lawyer and brother-in-law Edwin Lacierda, had denied leaking the information on Mrs. Arroyo's medical records.     

Last Oct. 29, the NBI raided the hideout in Cebu of the Alvin Flores robbery gang, killing its leader and other gang men in a shootout. The gang was responsible for a daring noon time heist of a watch shop in the upscale Greenbelt mall in Makati in September.

Killed were Alvin Nacor Flores, with aliases Bunso, Lester, engineer Dave Maceda, Marvin Santos Yao, and Danilo Flores; Flores's right-hand man Richie Gigante Hijapon alias Dodong, and John Paul Cruz Monteverde.

The two other fatalities were identified as Marc Alejandro Bondoc Salamanca, alias Joseph, who was a native of Isabela; and Roger Sanchez, with aliases Francisco Deladia y Bajo and Tulig.

The NBI also arrested gang man Rene Santillan Batiencela, a key player of the robbery group.

He has an outstanding warrant for illegal possession of firearms.

The NBI has launched a manhunt against the remaining members of the robbery gang.

Records showed from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2009, the NBI has received 42,855 cases.

The NBI said Investigative and Intelligence Service alone, including regional and district offices, received 9,438 crime cases from January to September 2009.

Crime cases terminated (or resolved) increased by 12.8 percent, from 9,029 last year to 10,187 this year.

Of these cases, a total of 3,715 with additional counts of 2,117 were recommended for prosecution.

A total of 192 subjects/persons were also located by NBI agents and special investigators, by virtue of warrants and orders of arrests issued by different courts nationwide and through requests made to locate missing persons.

The NBI's experts in the fields of forensic medicine and chemistry, questioned documents, ballistics, polygraphy, dactyloscopy, and investigative photography terminated 13,115 cases with 1,264 court appearances.

Likewise, 37,503 specimens were examined and analyzed.

On clearance processing, the NBI has issued 3,715,905 clearance applications for various purposes nationwide. This is an average of 20,417 clearances a day.

As it moves towards the end of the year, the NBI vowed to exert more effort in pursuing its goals and objectives.