Charge Danao chief cop: CPPO

By Kevin A. Lagunda

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

FOR allegedly making up proof against suspected drug pushers, the police chief of Danao City was recommended to be charged with an administrative case.

The legal department of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) suggested to the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 that Danao City Police Station Chief Eddie Recamara be charged with conduct unbecoming of a police officer and less grave neglect of duty.

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Insp. Julius Ompad, legal department chief, said Senior Supt. Louie Oppus, CPPO’s officer-in-charge, signed his recommendation letter against Recamara and PO1 Frederick Gomez, PO3 Pedro Borinaga, and SPO1 Allan Muñoz.

Ompad said he saw probable cause in the complaint filed by Danao City Prosecutor Jose Dionesio Kyamko against Recamara and company.

Kyamko filed a complaint against Recamara at the Provincial Investigation and Detective Management Branch (PIDMB) of the CPPO last Feb. 25. He alleged that Recamara made up evidence against detainee Rowena Lavador, a suspected drug pusher.

He said one of his staff, Paulino Barriga, was also forced to sign an inventory receipt, which will be used in the filing of a drug pushing case against Lavador.

Kyamko further alleged that Recamara’s group presented as proof pictures used in cases previously filed in court.

Recamara denied Kyamko’s allegations.

Kyamko and Recamara reportedly argued last Feb. 23 inside the prosecutor’s office after the latter accused Kyamko of acting like a “defense counsel” of Lavador, 42.

Lavador, in an earlier report, was arrested last Feb. 18 at 10:30 p.m. in Barangay Poblacion, Danao City on the strength of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 28 Judge Marilyn Yap.

The argument occurred after Recamara allegedly got mad when a prosecutor’s clerk did not sign a new inventory receipt, which included the drug selling case against Lavador.

Recamara said he sent PO1 Frederick Gomez and PO3 Pedro Borinaga last Feb. 23 to the Danao City Prosecutor’s Office to file drug selling and possession cases against Lavador.

Kyamko, according to Recamara, refused to accept the drug selling case, which is non-bailable, because it lacked Barriga’s signature. But Kyamko accepted the bailable drug possession case.

The sale and possession of dangerous drugs violate Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Under this law, the sale of dangerous drugs is punishable by life imprisonment, as well as a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million.

Barriga’s signature is not essential to the case, Recamara said.

“No inventory receipt was needed for the inquest (proceeding),” Recamara said in a phone interview.

He said a prosecutor’s manual issued by the Department of Justice on 2008 stated that in filing a drug case, only the laboratory examination result, photocopy of the buy-bust money and affidavit of the poseur buyer are needed.

Recamara said he will file his counter-affidavit once he receives the letter.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 09, 2011.

Councilor worries about safety of Dumpit at detention facility

By Kevin A. Lagunda, Karlon N. Rama, Jujemay G. Awit, and Linette C. Ramos

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

WORRIED about SPO1 Adonis Dumpit’s safety in the Cebu City Jail, a city councilor said the policeman should not be detained there.

Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. said he already apprised the jail warden of the possible danger Dumpit would be facing inside the detention facility, and asked him not to take the situation for granted.

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Pe, chairman of the City Council committee on public order and safety, said the situation of Dumpit and the threat to his life should not be taken for granted because criminals whom he sent to jail might get back at him while he’s detained there.

“It’s a security problem having him there. If we can only find another place outside the city jail, then that will be better because we all know that he has sent a lot of criminals to jail, that’s why he’s not safe there. But there’s nothing we can do, it’s a court order, we’ll just have to follow the legal process,” Pe told Sun.Star Cebu.

Irregularities

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, on the other hand, warned the jail warden against committing irregularities.

“Do what you believe you are allowed by law to do. If you go beyond, and it will be proven to be special treatment, you should only be reminded of the wardens who were kicked out,” said Rama.

But the mayor said Dumpit could not be regarded as an ordinary prisoner.

There is a rule for those prisoners and jail officials know what to do, said Rama. He added that the scenario would be worse if a detainee would become a victim of a crime inside the City Jail.

The family of a minor who was allegedly shot by Dumpit rejoiced at the court order putting Dumpit in jail.

“For the first time in six years, I don’t have to constantly look over my shoulder and see if somebody is following me,” said Janeth Badana in Cebuano.

Murder

Dumpit is facing a murder charge for the death of Badana’s son Ronron Go. The court allowed him to be detained at the detention cell of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

However, Regional Trial Court Judge Ester Veloso ordered Dumpit imprisoned at the city jail after Badana took photos of Dumpit outside the CIDG 7 detention cell.

Badana said prosecution witnesses are also relieved by Dumpit’s transfer. She added that those who testified against Dumpit in the case have been removed from the witness protection program.

After learning about the court order on Dumpit’s transfer, Pe said he advised the City Jail warden to be alert.

“He (warden) told me he’s aware of the security risks and that he’s implementing security measures to keep him (Dumpit) safe. SPO1 Dumpit was placed in an isolation cell and was assigned his own guard,” the councilor said.

Transfer

But deputy city jail warden Dennis Aliño they are planning to transfer Dumpit to another Bureau of Jail and Management Penology 7 facility, considering the policeman is a “high-risk” prisoner.

Dumpit was placed in the Reception and Diagnostic Center, which was repainted last week, said SJOI Edgardo del Rosario. It has a bathroom with running water.

The facility, del Rosario said, is where they conduct briefings about the jail’s policies to the new prisoners. It was also used as the prisoners’ livelihood center before.

Dumpit was not put right away into his cell when he arrived Monday afternoon. He stayed at the City Jail’s office until evening, del Rosario said.

The policeman has a pending motion for bail.

Bail

Judge Veloso had denied an earlier motion so defense lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva lodged another last December.

Salva, in the motion, stated that Dumpit was merely performing his job when the shooting took place.

Cebu City Police Office deputy chief Pablo Labra II, who took the witness stand last month, supported the argument.

He said it was he who gave the order to pursue the suspects of two robbery incidents on Dec. 14, 2004, the day Go was shot.

On his first night at the City Jail, Dumpit received a cup of rice and fried fish as his ration and slept on a flat sheet of wood.

Asked what he would do, he said: “Hagok gihapon. Kaginhawa pa ko diri (I slept well. I can still breathe here).”

Yesterday morning, the be-medalled police officer turned murder suspect ate a breakfast consisting of egg, beef loaf, dried fish and a cup of rice.

“Kanindot diri kay naay extra rice (It’s nice here; I get extra rice),” he said.

He has a black bag containing blankets and his clothes. He also brought along with him soap, alcohol, coffee in sachets, and two bottles of mineral water.

Dumpit said he will wait for when the court will render its decision on his case.

To fight boredom, Dumpit is requesting for books and other reading materials. He said he wants to read Tagalog love stories.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 09, 2011.

LTFRB says operators can use 2008 approval to charge 35 centavos more

By Linette C. Ramos

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

BUS passengers in the province will have to shell out a few more pesos starting next week, when bus operators start implementing the fare matrix approved by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in 2008 yet.

Citing the rising cost of fuel and maintenance of buses, operators of buses and mini buses said yesterday that they can no longer keep the bus fares at the present rate.

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The fare for the first five kilometers will still be at P8.50 but instead of the present rate of P1 per succeeding kilometer, passengers will have to pay P1.35 starting this Tuesday.

LTFRB 7 Regional Director Ahmed Cuizon said the operators who already secured the fare matrix in 2008 can start collecting the new fare rates immediately, without any need to file another petition for a fare hike.

“The rates were already approved by LTFRB in 2008, that’s why they can implement it anytime. But I’m requesting them to give the passengers a few days’ notice so they won’t be taken by surprise. So even if they have the certification, I hope they won’t impose it now, let’s give consideration to the passengers,” Cuizon said.

High time

In a meeting with Cuizon and representatives of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 yesterday, some 40 members of the Cebu Province Bus Operators Association (CPBOA) and Cebu South Mini Bus Operators’ Association (CSMBOA) agreed that it’s high time to impose the increased fare rates.

Julie Flores, president of CSMBOA, said the current fare rates were implemented when diesel was sold for only P38 per liter in 2008. Diesel now costs P49.38 per liter.

“We hope makasabot sad ang riding public because if we don’t implement this now, ang mga sakyanan walay tarong maintenance and mu-break down. Wala man mi nibunal ug pataas sa plitehan, igo-igo ra gyud ang among gipangayo na mukita ra sad ang mga drivers (We hope passengers will understand. We are not asking for a big increase, just enough for the drivers to make a living),” he told reporters after the meeting.

Flores lamented that with the current rates and the rising fuel prices, drivers can only earn at least P100 or P500 at the most a day.

LTFRB approved the increased fare rates in September 2008 but with the intervention of Gov. Gwen Garcia, bus operators suspended its implementation in consideration of the riding public.

Competition

In yesterday’s meeting, Cuizon advised the operators to inform the governor of their plans before they implement it.

Bus operators are worried, though, that their operations will suffer if they increase fare rates while their competitors keep their fares as is.

Although Ceres Bus Lines is a member of their association, it is not a party to their agreement yesterday.

CSMBOA has 34 members with some 150 mini buses while CPBOA has some 20 members with around 300 buses plying their routes in the province.

For his part, LTO 7 Enforcement Division Chief Macario Getaruelas assured the bus operators that they will apprehend bus operators and confiscate the license of bus drivers who undercharge bus passengers.

A complaint, however, will first have to be filed before their office.

“Sa part of law enforcement, if there is a complaint on undercharging and it’s supported with documents, including the bus tickets, we can apprehend them anytime but there has to be a complaint,” Getaruelas told the operators.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 09, 2011.

Photos shown to new witnesses

By Oscar C. Pineda and Kevin A. Lagunda

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

THE police have “more or less established some motive and means” behind the death of Ellah Joy Pique, said Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador.

“We have substantial reason to believe our investigation is on the right track,” he said yesterday, exactly a month since the abduction outside a public school in Minglanilla town.

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Comendador, spokesperson of a task force on the case, told reporters the police found pictures of a Caucasian man and a Filipina inside the house in Naga where a sports utility vehicle (SUV) was earlier picked up.Investigators went to Minglanilla last Monday afternoon to show the photos to witnesses. The police placed the pictures beside other images, which Comendador said is the proper procedure in identifying suspects.

He declined to give details, while the police are waiting for the affidavits to be subscribed by the witnesses.

“We are establishing the presence of the two personalities that we are after…and they were in Minglanilla just seconds before the abduction,” he said.

The task force will tap the Bureau of Immigration and Philippine Center for Transnational Crime for the foreigner’s background.

Comendador said they have a witness whose testimony is circumstantial, but this person was at the scene shortly before the kidnapping.

“We have witnesses during the abduction, just minutes before and after the abduction (of Ellah Joy Pique),” he said.

Two witnesses, according to a GMA 7 report, issued a joint affidavit last Friday. They saw the dark blue Pajero in Barangay Sayaw, Barili the night before Ellah Joy was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in the area last Feb. 9.

The witnesses, who came from their friend’s birthday party in Barangay Mantayapan, were going home when they saw the vehicle stop near a beach resort. Then they saw a Caucasian man disembark and begin to take something from the back of the vehicle. But he stopped when he noticed them.

When they were about 50 to 70 meters away, they saw the foreigner carry a sack with something inside it and place it on top of a road barrier. Then he pushed it down.
One of the witnesses, a woman, said she remembered the Pajero’s license plate: LHJ-382.

The police recovered a Pajero in Naga City last Friday night, with license plate LMJ-382. The letter “M” had been tampered to make it appear like an “H.”

Comendador said they will not use the three children who identified Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon as the ones who allegedly abducted Ellah Joy in Minglanilla.

“For the time being, we are using other witnesses in order not to contaminate the statements and not to give the defense later a chance to make loopholes in our case,” he said.

The task force also got DNA samples before Ellah Joy was buried.

The task force will meet again today to discuss their investigation.

“We are expanding our investigation, we are expanding our imagination in solving and in building up the case,” said Comendador.

Interviewed separately, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she is satisfied with how the task force is doing its job and said she regularly receives updates.

She declined to discuss these updates with reporters.

“I only interfere when the police are not doing their work, and when they already know some information and yet they withhold it,” said Garcia.

Former Cebu Provincial Police Office director Erson Digal resigned his position recently, after the governor said she has lost trust in him because he withheld information from here on the Pique case.

These days, the governor said she is confident the police are doing their work more carefully and providing just enough information for the public to understand they are doing their job.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 09, 2011.