Threat remains with 500 PAOCTF on AWOL — Herrera

DAVAO CITY – Bohol Rep. Ernesto Herrera warned the government yesterday against the more than 500 agents of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) who have gone "absent without official leave" since the office was disbanded by President Arroyo last month.

"Government should not be complacent. There is that threat of the more than 500 PAOCTF agents who until now have remained unaccounted for," said Herrera, who is running for the Senate under the administration’s People Power Coalition in the May 14 elections.

Herrera said military intelligence reports indicated the PAOCTF agents have remained loyal to former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson, who also headed the agency.

"They have not only gone on AWOL but they also have remained loyal to Lacson," he said.

Lacson, who is also running for the Senate, remains in hiding after he was implicated as one of those who plotted the failed siege on Malacañang last May 1 by the supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Aside from the former PAOCTF personnel who have not reported to their mother units in the PNP since the disbandment of their office last month, Herrera said, several elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have also been reported to be with the group of Lacson and reelectionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan that was suspected of plotting the May 1 seige.

Herrera said several members of the Guardian Movement of the Philippines, headed by Honasan, were also believed to be among those who stormed Malacañang last Tuesday.

He said the combined forces of Lacson and Honasan, who were classmates in the Philippine Military Academy Class 1971, also have ample weaponry at their command.

"They have a Simba, several armalites and other sophisticated weapons," he said.

The Simba was said to be among the vehicles that the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) got during the 1987 coup d’ etat led by Honasan, against former President Corazon Aquino.

But Herrera was also quick to point out that even if the group of Lacson and Honasan could be considered formidable, they do not have the strength to topple the government.

"Yes, they are capable of creating trouble but they do not have the capability to topple the government," he told The STAR.

Herrera said that the group of Lacson and Honasan could possibly create trouble before the May 14 elections.

"They are dangerous in the sense that they could still create trouble by bombing and whatever they want to do to destabilize the government," the congressman said.

He said he believes that both Lacson and Honasan are just in hiding in Metro Manila and not in the provinces as reported.

He said the two are capable of creating troubles especiall when theya re pushed to the wall, knowing their chances of winning in the May 14 elections "have become slim with recent developments such as the May 1 attack on Malacañang.