NBI checks the Toyota Vios listed in the search warrant at the impounding area of HPG-7 in Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)
The Highway Patrol Group (HPG) confirmed that the red sedan that police believed to be used in the Feb. 18 ambush of lawyer Noel Archival and his two companions was stolen.
In a press conference today, HPG spokesman Senior Supt. Oliver Plania said the vehicle was recovered and placed in an impounding area last year.
Based on security guard’s logbook that was acquired by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the vehicle was used repeatedly.
The logbook showed the names of Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Senior Insp. Eduardo Mara, Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion and SPO4 Edwin Galan as using the vehicle on the day of the ambush.
The officials denied the allegations. Plania said the regional HPG office was “demoralized” because of the incident and have reservations about confiscating suspected stolen cars because they may be accused of corruption.
The NBI found a “motion for extension to file counter-affidavit” from Noel Archival and Associates Law office filed before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office on Dec. 16, 2013 inside the sedan’s compartment.
Lawyer Dexterus John Ypanto, an associate in Archival’s firm who signed the pleading, said the slain lawyer was the counsel of Jane Catherine Go and Chris Reinz who were charged by the HPG for violating the Anti-Fencing law, “carnapping”, and illegal transfer of vehicle license plate numbers.
Go was flagged down by HPG agents while driving a Nissan X-trail SUV in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City last Oct. 10. She was told that her vehicle registration had expired and that its chassis and engine number were purportedly tampered.
Reinz, the registered owner of the vehicle, was impleaded in the case. Go, in turn, accused a certain SPO1 Aldrin Gulingan of the HPG of demanding P200,000 from her in exchange for the car’s release./ With reports from Correspondent Chito Aragon
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