Ex-NBI agent faces raps for losing evidence

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent charged in court for losing all the evidence in an extortion case after he led the entrapment of the suspect.

Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said Alex Advento should be charged with malversation and infidelity in the custody of documents for failing to account for P5,000 in marked money and for losing other papers and records.

In a 13-page resolution, the Office of the Ombudsman said the former NBI operative is currently detained at the Valenzuela City jail on kidnapping charges.

Records show that Advento was unable to produce the original copies of a sworn statement and photographs as well as an envelope with marked money in connection with an entrapment operation he led in 1994.

In defense, the respondent claims that “he did not retain in his possession or custody any document or paper of the bureau” adding that he was not even given the opportunity to turn over any document or cases he was handling and therefore cannot make any claim of loss, misplacement or failure to locate such.

The Ombudsman, however, ruled that Advento “has neither produced any evidence showing the turnover to the proper custodian of the missing pieces of evidence nor offered any satisfactory explanation as to the whereabouts thereof.”

The anti-graft agency said the investigation conducted sufficiently engenders a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed.

“As agent-on-case and team leader, Advento has overall control in the investigation of the case assigned to him. His responsibilities include, among others, the taking and gathering of evidence against the subject; the making and keeping/securing the case folder and the evidence gathered in the process; the making of investigation report; and at times, the filing of the case in the prosecutor’s office,” its resolution said.