Pangasinan cop faces probe, lawmaker's complaint

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan , Philippines  – A police intelligence officer is facing investigation for disclosing information on private armies in the province, and a libel complaint, too, from first district Rep. Arthur Celeste.

Senior Superintendent Percival Barba told The STAR that he has ordered that Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr. be probed to determine if he committed lapses when he divulged information from a “restricted document” on private armies during a media forum here last Tuesday.

Caramat identified the private armies in Pangasinan, based on information from Camp Crame, as those “in Bolinao with the Celeste brothers, Infanta, San Nicolas, San Manuel, Umingan, and Balungao.”

“It was not really a top secret but it’s a restricted document, meaning if you want something to divulge there, it should have a permission from the chief of office. But that didn’t happen,” Barba said in Filipino.

“So I will conduct an investigation. Let’s see where he failed and if he had lapses. Maybe there should also be a corresponding punishment,” he added, also in Filipino.

Barba said there are four lists of identified private armies, including one which the provincial police did but which did not include the Celeste brothers.

Celeste, in an earlier interview with The STAR, strongly denied that he and his brothers – the re-electionist mayor of Bolinao and a former mayor who is running for Congress – maintained a private army.

He challenged the police to do their task and arrest him and his brothers if they have evidence to prove they have a private army.

In the presence of local newsmen, Celeste signed yesterday a complaint affidavit against Caramat which will be submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Celeste said he is also set to file a libel complaint and an administrative case against Caramat who, he added, besmirched his reputation and his family’s good name.

“To me the issue is just pure and simple politics,” said Celeste, who chairs the House committee on national defense and security.

He said he does not know Caramat’s intention “why he singled out our family” when the intelligence officer revealed that there are six private armies in the province.          – With Cesar Ramirez