Search for Bentain ‘drum’ may cause collapse of megadike

BACOLOR, Pampanga — Go easy on that megadike.

Local executives of this province have expressed concern that the search for the drum that supposedly contains the body of slain casino worker Edgar Bentain may take its toll on the megadike in Barangay Cabalantin here.

For almost a week now, agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) have been using payloaders and backhoes in an effort to find the drum near one side of the anti-lahar megadike on the old MacArthur highway.

Bacolor Mayor Romeo Dungca said they have sought the assistance of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to make sure the diggings near the megadike do not affect the integrity of the structure.

The megadike was put up in the mid-90s to protect the entire province of Pampanga and parts of Zambales from lahar flows spawned by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

Search for the "Bentain drum" has been concentrated in the area after a witness said last week he saw the drum dumped there two years ago.

Angelo "Ador" Mawanay, who claims to be a former civilian agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), claimed officials of the elite unit were involved in the kidnap-slaying of Bentain who leaked a videotape in 1998 showing then presidential candidate Joseph Estrada playing baccarat at the Heritage Hotel casino in Pasay City with alleged gambling lord Charlie "Atong" Ang.

Bentain, who was abducted on Jan. 16, 1999, was allegedly placed in a drum with cement mixture which was later thrown into a hole of the megadike.

Another witness, Pampanga resident Julie Lacanlale, had narrated to ISAFP agents that she had spotted a drum in the area in 1999.

Authorities have yet to confirm Mawanay’s story, and some officials have begun doubting the man’s credibility.

Even if Mawanay’s story is true, operations to recover the drum may be like looking for a needle in a haystack, at the expense of the megadike, local officials here said.

Dungca said if the drum had been dropped into one of the cavities of the megadike, it could have been washed away by strong currents downstream in the lahar-laden tributaries of the Pasig-Potrero river.

Dr. Emmanuel Galang, chief of the provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC), said it may be difficult to find the drum since the river forks to either the Guagua-Pasac river, which empties into Manila Bay, or to the Palaman river, which flows to Minalin town.

Dungca proposed that a reward be offered for anyone who can find the drum.

"I think it would be well for ISAFP to offer a reward considering it covers a very wide area," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has decided to distance itself from Mawanay, who has linked former police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his top lieutenants to several high-profile crimes.

"We do want to be involved with Ador. The problem with him is that he has something new to say every day. What we want is for him to finish previous statements and then we can evaluate them," NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco said yesterday.

Wycoco also refuted Mawanay’s claim that he passed two lie-detector tests.

"The results were inconclusive. There are things that were true, but there were many inconsistencies in details as well," the NBI chief said. – With Mike Frialde