Cop to NBI-7: Show clear proof we killed Archival

CEBU, Philippines - One of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit (RHPU) -7 policemen tagged in the killing of lawyer Noel Archival and his two companions said the prosecution “miserably failed” to establish his exact location and actual participation in the crime.

In his counter-affidavit, Senior Police Officer 4 Edwin Galan said the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation did not exactly pinpoint his involvement in the death of Archival.

Galan, along with Senior Superintendent Romualdo Iglesia, Senior  Inspector Joselito Lerion, Chief Inspector Eduardo Mara and Police Officer 1 Alex Bacani, was among the suspects in the death of Archival.

In its complaint, the NBI said Galan, being the custodian of impounded vehicles, failed to apprehend or stop the use of impounded vehicles, which was a violation against the law.

“Galan…should have objected to the (coming) in and out of vehicles from the compound…bearing bogus plate numbers or using plate numbers that belonged to another vehicle. By so doing, and without any objection on his part, he tacitly approved the acts committed by his colleague,” read the complaint.

Galan, however, countered that he could not have done so since his office is located at Camp Sotero Cabahug, which is more than five kilometers from the impounding area in Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City.

“While NBI-7 is keen on establishing that I was remiss in my duty, yet NBI-7 has miserably failed to establish by competent and relevant evidence the exact relationships of these motor vehicles to the one used in the commission of the crime,” he said.

“At best, they are a result of poor inference and half-baked investigation in order to appease the public clamor for results,” he added in his 10-page counter-affidavit.

Galan said he was in Cebu City performing his responsibilities and duties when the crime was committed and that he and the others accused of having a hand in the killing could account for their whereabouts.

Archival was ambushed and killed in Coro, Dalaguete, Cebu after attending a hearing in Dumaguete City.

Galan urged the NBI-7 to present clear evidences on the conspiracy it accused him and his colleagues to have committed.  (FREEMAN)