An interesting study for criminologists

What was in the mind of jailbird Martin Soriano when he ferried himself and three guards to a court hearing in a stolen car? Criminologists would be interested to find out. It could give clues to the thinking of a man who was once a high-flying NBI special agent and lady’s man, but who is now facing charges in various courts for various offenses: from fraud, car theft and robbery to illegal arrest, arbitrary detention and kidnapping.

Last Tuesday morning three Quezon City jail guards should have driven Soriano to a Makati City hearing in their official vehicle. But they allegedly had been moaning about shortage of vans and gas, so the inmate offered his own. Off they went in two sedans driven by Soriano employees, accompanied by his private secretary and a girlfriend.

One of the two cars was reported stolen only in Oct. from, of all persons, an NBI tipster. As luck would have it, the owner saw his lost car on the road and followed it to a restaurant in Makati. From there, he contacted NBI agents, who promptly arrested Soriano’s party.

Soriano now has another count of carjacking to face. He has been sent back to the Quezon City jail. His two drivers, secretary and girlfriend must answer for bringing a stolen car to that jail to begin with, so were booked as well. As of Wednesday they were still detained at NBI headquarters. The three guards, also detained at NBI, cried that it was all Soriano’s fault that they rode a stolen car. To clear themselves, they have signed affidavits as witnesses against Soriano in the new car theft rap.

But what about the act of the guards of escorting Soriano to court in an unauthorized car that only happened to be stolen? Why did they break standard procedure and go to a diner that was not in the official itinerary? Should not the guards be charged with negligence or infidelity to duty? And should not Soriano and the four others be sued for interfering with the guards’ work?

The theft of the car and its irregular use are intertwined. Somehow it symbolizes Soriano’s life and times.

Soriano said the car merely was pawned to him, and he had no way of checking its records from behind bars. Such vehicle mortgages was what got him into trouble with the law even when he supposedly was a lawman. In the late ’90s authorities separately had raided two repair shops where the engine and chassis numbers of stolen cars were being altered. Both times Soriano’s name surfaced as the "customer" who brought the luxury units for "repair". But he was untouchable. On another occasion Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, despite many police contacts from his long stint as defense minister, had to grumble about the theft of his SUV by an NBI man. "Who is this Martin Soriano and why is he so influential?" he wondered.

A string of kidnappings, illegal arrests and unauthorized detention followed. Several past fiancées also filed cases of fraud, and detailed his modus operandi that included bringing them to pray at the same adoration chapel prior to sweet-talking for huge amounts. One of the complainants was Mary "Rosebud" Ong, who said that Soriano, not knowing she was a narc, had her abducted with her mom also in the late ’90s for extortion.

Soriano’s patrons at the NBI soon retired or died. The serious charges landed him in jail in Jan. 2005, first at National Police headquarters at Camp Crame and then at Quezon City jail. Last May Ong’s lawyer tried to get him returned to Crame upon hearing reports of VIP treatment at QC. Word was that Soriano had revived his "car loan" business from behind bars, something he could not do at his old cell. Soriano himself admitted that a certain "Mia" hanged around the jail to run errands for detainees – at a huge fee for herself and the guards.

Supt. Ignacio Panti, the warden, denied under oath knowing Mia. He had a big job to do, he swore: run a jail built to fit only 900 but stuffed with 3,500 inmates, and cope with only 14 men for each of the three guard shifts per day. But he must accept new inmates like Soriano, he said, if the court so orders. Interestingly, Panti in Nov. would transfer Charlie "Atong" Ang, Joseph Estrada’s co-accused in plunder, to the Bicutan jail against orders of the Sandiganbayan. His reason: one of his few men, not even identified in a report, supposedly was plotting to kill Ang.

It would appear from later events that QC jail officers kept preferred inmates like Soriano, but not equally important ones like Ang. Ang stayed but one day in Panti’s custody. Soriano, by his own admission to the NBI last Tuesday, has been running a car pawning all this time, also in Panti’s turf.

The Sandiganbayan has ordered Panti to explain his transfer of Ang without seeking clearance. It would be interesting to know what he would say about his guards gleefully riding an inmate’s vehicle to court, dropping by a restaurant instead of returning to jail after the hearing, and then later claiming they were only the victims. Perhaps the guards will tell the whole story of Soriano’s privileges in prison. That would make the QC jail another good study for criminologists.

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"Sons bury their fathers, and not the other way around," the ancient Romans said. Truly, parents dying before their children is life’s natural course; the children expect it. Once parents bury their children, it means war or famine, accident or pestilence has struck. Parents never get over it. They can only learn to cope.

That is the aim of INA Healing Center, the country’s first therapy clinic for grieving mothers, which opens tomorrow at the compound of the Department of Social Welfare and Development on Batasan Road, Quezon City. The clinic is a two-storey building where "orphaned mothers" can be with persons who understand and empathize with their pain, and social workers who can guide them through their grief.

The Healing Center is the first project of INA (Inang Naulila sa Anak) Foundation, headed by Gina de Venecia, wife of Speaker Joe, who lost their youngest daughter KC in a fire a week before Christmas 2004. With Gina is broadcaster Ali Sotto, who also lost her son Miko in an accident.

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