PAOCTF agents in hiding?

The seven agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) summoned by the National Bureau of Investigation are being questioned in relation to an obstruction of justice case and not for the disappearance of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver.

This was clarified by NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco who said the bureau is now conducting an investigation of the seven police officers, all detailed with the PAOCTF Task Force Luzon, after they told the court that the raid they had conducted on the suspected safehouse of a car theft ring in Sun Valley Subdivision in Parañaque City last Nov. 21 yielded negative results.

This was contrary to documents secured by the NBI which showed that the PAOCTF agents seized several car license plates, a firearm, 10 grams of shabu and drug paraphernalia.

Interestingly, the alleged safehouse raided by the seven PAOCTF agents identified as team leader Senior Inspector Wilson Pedido, SPO4 Willy Nuas, PO3 Roco Matic, PO3 Edmund Gacuti, SPO2 Gomercito Cagnayo, Inspector Dionisio Bonoy and SPO1 Adelaido Celarco at 3934 Marigold St., Sun Valley Subdivision, was an abandoned dwelling near Dacer’s house. Wycoco refused to answer whether the seven agents were "casing" Dacer and could have used the raid as a cover.

Meanwhile, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) chief Director Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said he will not hesitate to arrest the seven agents should they continue to ignore summons from the NBI.

"We will give our full and uncompromising cooperation with the NBI and the other concerned government authorities to finally solve the Dacer case," he said.

Ebdane admitted that they are at a loss on the whereabouts of the seven PAOCTF men. "My office has been coordinating with the NBI on the whereabouts of these agents, including those who allegedly did not show up for the questioning conducted by the NBI," he said.

A police source privy to the PAOCTF operation confirmed that the seven agents were members of the same team which participated in the raid near the Dacers’ residence. But the source insisted that the operation had nothing to do with the Dacer case.

"They were afraid that they will eventually be presented as suspects even when they voluntarily go there. But they are ready to cooperate. They are just buying some time," a PAOCTF official said.

Sources revealed that the task force men are now in hiding in Cebu City, bolstering earlier reports that those involved in the abductions are members of the PAOCTF-Visayas.

The group’s commander is from Cavite, where Dacer’s white Toyota Revo was recovered by authorities ditched in a deep ravine in Maragodnon town.

Wycoco also said that the NBI decided to conduct an investigation into what appears to be a "petty" incident as it was "done by a group and that there were several laws violated."

Dacer and his driver Emanuel Corbito were abducted by armed men on Nov. 24, just three days after the supposed PAOCTF raid in Sun Valley Subdivision safehouse. Dacer and Corbito were abducted at the corner of Zobel Roxas street and Sergio Osmeña highway by the armed suspects, one of whom was reportedly wearing a police shirt.

But Wycoco was also quick to stress that they are not categorically ruling out the involvement of the PAOCTF agents in the Dacer abduction.

"We are not clearing anybody. I am not saying that they are involved or they are not involved. As of now they are being investigated for the raid which just so happens to be near the house of Bubby Dacer," said Wycoco.

The summoned PAOCTF agents were supposed to appear by twos at NBI headquarters starting yesterday but for some reason, they failed to do so, said NBI National Capital Region chief Samuel Ong, whose unit is also probing the Dacer abduction.

Ong said instead of the agents, two lawyers from the PAOCTF appeared at his office last Tuesday and asked if the agents were to come as a group. The request was rejected by the NBI.

Yesterday morning, the agents again failed to appear at the NBI.

"They should have appeared to clear their names of any involvement in the Dacer case. That should have been the case. As to why they did not appear, your guess is as good as mine," Ong said.

Ong said that should the summoned PAOCTF agents fail to appear by Friday, they will slap charges against them in relation to the conducted raid. The NBI said it will be summoning four more PAOCTF men tomorrow.

For his part, former PAOCTF chief and now opposition senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson vehemently denied that the Sunvalley raid was a cover for a surveillance operation on Dacer.

In a statement, Lacson said the raid was a legitimate police operation and was fully covered by a search warrant. He added that even the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, then headed by Chief Superintendent Francisco Zubia, his classmate at the Philippine Military Academy, was convinced that the raid was legitimate.

Zubias then also served as concurrent operations chief of the PAOCTF.