NBI considers Michael Ray 'high risk'

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is considering former police colonel Michael Ray Aquino as “high risk.”

NBI Deputy Director for Intelligence Ruel Lasala yesterday said they received information that the supposed mastermind in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case wanted to silence Aquino as a possible witness.

Lasala added some remnants of criminal groups that had been neutralized by Aquino, who is to be extradited this weekend from the United States, are also out for retribution.

Lasala though clarified the reports were “unverified and subject for validation.”

He said the NBI would be coordinating with their counterparts at the Philippine National Police-Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) to confirm the reported threats against Aquino.

Aquino had served as chief operations officer of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Task Force (PAOCTF), the police unit suspected to have carried out the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

PAOCTF was then headed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the former PNP chief.

The US government had allowed the extradition of Aquino in granting the petition of the Philippine government. Aquino was detained in the US while serving sentence for espionage.

Aquino would stand trial in the Dacer-Corbito killings as among the principal accused.

Lasala said Aquino could end up as a target for assassination of the mastermind behind the Dacer-Corbito murder case on the possibility that he might become state witness.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula assured there will be no special treatment accorded to Aquino once he has been turned over to their custody.

Gatdula said Aquino would be committed at the NBI Detention Center under tight security.

Just like other inmates, his legal counsel would be allowed to visit him in jail but they would not be allowed to stay with him 24 hours everyday of his incarceration in the NBI.

“The lawyer would have to coordinate with us. The lawyer would not be allowed to stay there 24 hours…Visiting hours would be observed,” Gatdula said.

Gatdula also assured the safety of Aquino while in detention. He said that even if Aquino would be mingling with other prisoners his life would not be endangered.

“That is why we have security guards in the area. We are assuring his security. It is our job to secure all the people detained in our center,” he said.

Gatdula revealed the NBI would be implementing a new security plan to ensure Aquino is safe.

Sources revealed Aquino is expected to arrive in the country on Sunday.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, on the other hand, said she is satisfied with the security plan laid out by the NBI for Aquino’s arrival in the country.

She said the NBI is making “sufficient preparations” for the coming of Aquino.

There have been previous instances when high profile detainees were spared from spending a night at the detention cell out of consideration that it posed a security risk.

The NBI wanted to avoid the possibility that a high profile inmate would be harmed while in detention.

Sources at the NBI described the security plan for Aquino as an “overkill.”

An official said the security measures would be the same provided to former police officers Cezar Mancao and Glenn Dumlao when they were extradited separately in 2009.

The official, however, stressed it would be better to be “over prepared” in the security aspect rather than risk complications in transporting the subject from the airport to the NBI main office in Manila City.

The NBI used more than 50 security personnel and 12 vehicles to secure Dumlao when he arrived from the US following extradition.

When the NBI secured Mancao, more than 100 heavily armed personnel escorted the former police officer when they fetched him at the airport.

Gatdula said Aquino’s detention at the NBI would be temporary pending the decision of the court.