Statues of imitation

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents “rescued” Carol Jimenez, the wife of former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez, Friday night from her nine-day confinement at the Silver Crest Rehabilitation Center in Las Piñas City.

NBI-Special Task Force (STF) Head Agent Arnel Dalumpines said he did not question Carol right after they whisked her out of the rehabilitation center because she might still be traumatized by the experience.

“She looked haggard but she was okay. When we brought her out she was crying because she was happy. She said we are her heroes,” Dalumpines said.

He said that some of Carol’s relatives wanted to go with them but her lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, reportedly discouraged them.

Dalumpines said they dropped Carol and Kapunan off at the parking area of an establishment along Roces Avenue in Quezon City.

“But before letting Carol go, Attorney Kapunan signed that she was taking Carol into her custody. Carol also signed that she was giving her consent to go with her lawyer. It would be up to her lawyer to have her client undergo a medical examination,” he added. 

Kapunan did not want to disclose their destination for fear that their enemies would allegedly try to snatch Carol away again.

Dalumpines said it was a hastily arranged operation prompted by reports allegedly received by Carol’s lawyer and relatives that she would be transferred.

He said he was already home when he learned his unit was being directed to “immediately rescue” Carol based on an amended order issued by Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 69 Judge Lorifel Lacap-Pahimna, which arrived in his office at 6:40 p.m. last Friday. 

Since it was already after office hours, there were only five agents at the STF and he quickly solicited the support of other agents from other units such as the Intelligence Service Operations Division (ISOD) and newly hired agents to come with them. 

The rescue team arrived at the area at 9:40 p.m. and after some negotiating, the NBI reportedly decided to barge into the rehabilitation center.

Jimenez’s niece, Diana Crespo, “and security officers of the establishment tried to prevent us from entering the premises because it would reportedly disturb the other patients. She even called lawyers and wanted me to talk to Jimenez, but I did not entertain her. I told her to just bring their arguments before the court,” Dalumpines said.

He said they were forced to use bolt cutters to destroy the locks on the gate and front door and ask for Carol’s location.

Dalumpines said they arrested one of the security guards for attempting to prevent them from enforcing the court order, “but we soon released him and did not press any charges because we got what we wanted.”

One of the agents allegedly found Carol inside an airconditioned well-kept room on the ground floor, located beside the kitchen. The room only had one window inside the bathroom.

“All the other patients were on the second floor of the facility and only Carol was staying on the first floor, near the kitchen, and there was also a table barring her door. It would make you think that it was a stockroom for kitchen supplies and that there was nobody there,” the agent said.

Dalumpines said he believes that since they only acted to comply with a court order, they would not be charged with kidnapping.

“Only Carol could file kidnapping charges against us. It was a rescue operation, now if others would want to pursue the case, it is up to them. The NBI just implemented the order,” he said.

At 10 a.m. last May 16, unidentified men allegedly forcibly took Carol and pushed her inside a vehicle at the basement of Tuscany Condominium. She was supposed to attend the first court hearing in Taguig on the domestic abuse charges she filed against her estranged husband last month.

She reportedly suffered various physical, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse from Jimenez, who was once a financial adviser of former President Joseph Estrada.

Crespo, who is part owner of the rehabilitation center, said the men who took Carol away just waved a piece of paper at her, which she did not get to read.

Jimenez’s son, Virgilio Crespo, earlier testified in favor of Carol, his stepmother, at a recent habeas corpus hearing at the Las Piñas Regional Trial Court.

He said it would do Carol more harm “if she remains at the rehabilitation facility since she would not be able to take prescription drugs such as barbiturates and other anti-depressant drugs.”

Jimenez denied that he ordered his men to “kidnap” his wife, claiming that he only turned his wife to the care of specially trained people who can treat and rehabilitate her.

He said his wife has been taking “prohibited drugs” and blamed her addiction as the cause of their family troubles. – With Rhodina Villanueva