It’s more of fiction than truth. This was the response of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to allegations that it has an axe to grind against the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) whose operatives were implicated in the ambush-slay of lawyer Noel Archival and his companions.
Rennan Augustus Oliva, NBI-7 Supervising Agent, said the respondents should answer the accusations head on instead of diverting the real issues at hand.
“What they (respondents) are trying to emphasize has nothing to do with the death of Atty. Archival. Why won’t they explain their alleged involvement in the case?” Oliva told reporters.
In their counter-affidavits, Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia and Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion accused NBI Supervising Agent Jose Ermie Monsanto of pinning them down in order to get even with them.
The two respondents said the HPG-National Capital Region, in 2007, filed a disbarment case against Monsanto before the Supreme Court for direct assault and obstruction of justice.
Iglesia also mentioned rumors that Archival received P5 million from Ecleo in exchange of his promise that no warrant of arrest would be issued against the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association.
But when an arrest warrant was eventually issued by the court, Ecleo allegedly demanded the return of his money.
Iglesia said Archival refused and did not return the money.
Lawyer Democrito Barcenas, one of the legal counsels of the Archival family, said Iglesia’s statement is a malicious imputation against the slain lawyer.
“How did Iglesia know that Ecleo demanded for the return of the money? Did he talk with Ecleo or is he merely engaging in plain speculation? To blacken the memory of one who is dead is libel according to the Penal Code of the Philippines,” Barcenas told Cebu Daily News.
In a separate interview, Barcenas’ co-counsel Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said Archival is already dead and could neither confirm or deny Iglesia’s allegations.
While they welcome any evidence from Iglesia, in an attempt to find out the truth, she said the evidence, for the moment, points at the respondents as the same persons who killed Archival.
“As of the present, what is incriminating versus Iglesia et al, is the fact that the vehicles used in the ambush were traced inside the HPG impounding area. Did Ecleo use these impounded vehicles in the ambush? Was it not Iglesia and HPG 7 in control of these vehicles?” said Dalawampu.
She added that she still have to study whether they will file a libel complaint against Iglesia.
Iglesia, Lerion, Senior Insp. Eduardo Mara, SPO4 Edwin Galan, and PO1 Alex Bacani are facing charges of multiple and frustrated murder in relation to their alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Archival and his companions.
In his counter-affidavit, Lerion, like Iglesia, denied killing Archival and his companions last Feb. 18.
He said the allegations against him are just “speculative, irrational, and illogical.”
“It is highly improbable to state that the vehicle seen by Paolo Cortes and the alleged red Vios allegedly driven by me are one and the same,” Lerion said.
Also, the bullet purportedly found on the car he drove was not among the items which the NBI listed in the inventory sheet following the implementation of the search warrant.
Lerion requested the panel of prosecutors to “sift through all the documents, objects, and testimonies to determine what may serve as a relevant and competent evidentiary foundation of a possible case against the respondents.”
Archival and his companions Candido Miñoza, Alejandro Jaime, and Cortes were ambushed inside their vehicle while traversing the national road in Dalaguete town. Only Cortes survived the attack.
The five respondents have been transferred to the Camp Crame.
To fill the void, five police officials were reassigned to the HPG-7 including Senior Supt. Sheldon Jacaban, who is now the chief of unit.
The other replacements, who started reporting last week, are Supt. Rommel Ochave, Senior Insp. Gregorio Sanchez, Senior Insp. Silvestre Cenia and Insp. Charlie Reyes./WITH CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON