The three police officers who were indicted for the ambush-slaying of lawyer Noel Archival in Dalaguete town, southern Cebu early this year are nowhere to be found, the brother of the slain barrister as well as the lawyer said.
Talamban barangay councilman Nelson Archival claimed that they have it on good authority the three accused policemen – Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Senior Supt. Joselito Lerion and PO1 Alex Bacani – were no longer at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City where they are supposed to be detained during the pendency of the case.
The three policemen were with the regional office of the PNP Highway Patrol Group when the ambush took place in Feb. 18.
They were relieved from their posts and were placed under “camp restriction” at Camp Crame.
Whereabouts
“Na-serve na ang warrant pero wala pa nadawat kay ila man nang gitagoan. I think ila man nang gipalakaw (The arrest warrants were already served, but were not properly received because they were hiding them. I believe they were made to flee),” Nelson Archival said.
“The latest information we received is that they are no longer at the Crame holding area,” he added.
Lawyer Inocencio De La Cerna Jr., the counsel of the policemen, said he has not spoken to them in two months and that he has no idea about their whereabouts.
“I’m urging my clients to be in the bounds and fold of the law. They have to respect and honor the order of the court,” he said.
Judge Maximo Perez of the Argao (Cebu) Regional Trial Court branch 26 had issued arrest warrants against the three policemen last Thursday.
Harsh
Iglesia, Lerion, and Bacani are facing charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder in relation to the death of Archival and his companions. The offense is non-bailable.
NBI regional director Max Salvador said he has already sent copies of the arrest warrants to Camp Crame last Friday.
Lawyer Democrito Barcenas said they may file administrative charges against the PNP officials in Camp Crame who have taken custody of the three officers in case the three could no longer be located.
“They are under the supervision of Camp Crame in the first place,” he said.
Supt. Renato Dugan, the spokesman of the Police Regional Office 7, gave his assurances that the accused policemen would eventually get arrested.
“Dura lex sed lex. They law may be harsh but that is the law. We must implement that. Sakit man sa dughan pero mao nang balaud. Ato nang buhaton (It may be a heavy burden in the chest but that’s the law. We have to do it),” he said.
Noel Archival, along with his aides Candido Miñoza, Alejandro Jaime, and Paolo Cortes, were on their way back to Cebu City from Dumaguete in Negros Oriental where they attended a court hearing, when the assailants peppered the lawyer’s black Ford Escape with bullets in Dalaguete town, southern Cebu last Feb. 18. Only Cortes survived.
Indictment
Archival was killed on the spot due to several gunshot wounds on the head and body.
After months of investigation, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed a complaint for multiple and frustrated murder against Iglesia, then HPG-7 director; Lerion; Bacani; Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, and SPO4 Edwin Galan.
Last August, Prosecutor Rodrigo Tagaan found probable cause to indict Iglesia, Lerion, amd Bacani and several unidentified persons on charges of multiple and frustrated murder.
Mara and Galan were cleared for “insufficiency of evidence.”
The police officers were transferred to Camp Crame immediately after one of the cars allegedly used in the crime, a red Toyota Vios sedan, was found in the HPG-7 headquarters in barangay Lahug in Cebu City.
The indictment cited the NBI’s findings, including entries in the logbook of the impounding area of the regional office of the PNP Highway Patrol Group, where the policemen were assigned.
Prosecutors also cited circumstances where the slain lawyer had brushes with the police officers.
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