Since the gate was locked, police agents of the CIDG climb over the fence to enter a rented bungalow which was used as a rebel safehouse in San Fernando town, south Cebu. Senior Supt. Ritchie Posadas (in white shirt) and his men examine the contents of a computer during the search.
No one was home, as expected.
The belongings inside were in disarray, as if the occupants had hurriedly left.
No guns or ammunition were found in the now-silent bungalow in San Fernando town, south Cebu where police and military operatives yesterday searched for weapons or explosives in a safehouse once occupied by captured rebel leaders Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma and their comrades.
The house owner, identified as Johnny Saballero who rented the place to the out-of-town visitors, and the caretaker, a certain “Ester” will be invited for questioning, said Senior Supt. Ritchie Posadas of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
The search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras directed the police to look for firearms, ammunition or explosives.
During the two-hour search, the police opened cabinets, rooms and even the central processing unit of a computer.
Also left behind were four small special breed dogs – two shih tzus, a Japanese Spitz and dachshund, which were roaming free in the compound.
The concrete two-bedroom bungalow has a large lawn, and is tucked in the interior of sitio Boloc-boloc of barangay Sangat. It is reached by a dirt road and habal-habal (motorcycle taxis) about five kilometers from the town proper.
A cottage and gazebo nearby had their own toilets. Inside the cottage was a computer station.
Posadas said the belongings in the house were already scattered when policemen arrived with a search warrant.
He said this indicates the Tiamzons and their comrades may have been alerted, and hurried left , leaving the place in a mess.
Cebu Daily News noticed a suitcase and a roller suitcase in the living room, with clothes strewn on the sofa.
Posadas said that following Saturday’s arrest of the couple, the house is being been guarded by San Fernando police.
Gov. Hilario Davide III said he was surprised about the arrest of the CPP-NPA leaders because Cebu was declared “insurgent-free” by the military since 2010.
“Tiamzon made Sibonga their retreat. I don’t know if they have sympathizers or supporters here but according to Colonel Gillamac (Cebu provincial police chief), they were just here for R and R (rest and relaxation),” Davide told reporters the other day.
The military said the Tiamzons had been under surveillance for “two months” but did not specify whether they were in Cebu for that entire period.
Sangat barangay captain Ramulfo Sasuman, who witnessed the raid, said he didn’t know anything was amiss in the house until news reports broke out that the no. 1 leader of the Communist Part of the Philippines and his wife were arrested on Saturday in Aloguinsan town, southwest Cebu.
Sasuman said that the couple do not mingle with neighbors. They had a Tagalog-speaking helper whom they sent to the barangay hall every month to pay for their water bill.
Neighbors were too frightened to talk on the record, but some said the Tiamzon couple started to occupy and rent the place for P20,000 a month in January of last year.
Raiding team first checked the nipa cottage beside the house and another gazebo in the compound.
There was a computer monitor, two CPUs, several cellular phones, electronic gadgets, USB, and USB Internet connections but Posadas said he decided not to seize them because they were not listed in the search warrant.
Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino chief of Police Regional Office (PRO-7) said that companions of the couple are still in custody.
Tactical interrogation was conducted, said the police official. /with a report by Bjorn Tabanera and Tonee Despojo