‘NBI barred me from seeing Degamo slay suspect’

MANILA, Philippines — The legal counsel of one of the suspects tagged in the assassination of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo has claimed that he was barred entry by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to the agency’s compound in Ermita, Manila last Saturday supposedly to speak with his client.

Former Department of Justice (DOJ) undersecretary Reynante Orceo said the NBI did not allow him to see and talk to his client, Marvin Miranda, and was told the case investigation was “under process.”

“I asked what ‘under process’ means, they said ‘secret.’ I said is there a secret in an investigation?” Orceo said in English and Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

The lawyer added that he was passed on to other agents in attempts to reach his client and waited for two and a half hours.

Orceo learned that Miranda was brought to the NBI compound along Taft Avenue in Ermita, Manila at around 1 a.m. last Saturday, but claimed that the arrest was unclear.

Although uncertain, Orceo expressed belief that his client is in the NBI compound.

“There was a name mentioned by the arresting officer, but I need to confirm that,” the former DOJ official said.

He added that Miranda has no warrant of arrest because there is no complaint yet against the latter.

Orceo asserted that since the arrest is warrantless, it is a ground for illegal detention.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday said the NBI had arrested one of the Degamo slay brains tagged as the main player in the killing, thereby claiming that the case is “99-percent solved.”

Remulla, however, did not reveal the suspect’s identity, but said he was arrested within the country, but outside Negros Oriental.