Defense moves to yank out HPG logbook as evidence

The lawyer of the policemen implicated in the Feb. 18 ambush-slaying of lawyer Noel Archival questioned the inclusion of a security logbook of the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) as among the prosecution’s pieces of evidence in the case.

Inocencio dela Cerna asked Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Soliver Peras to order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to return the logbook they took from the HPG impounding area which he describes as “the fruit of the poisonous tree”.

“That logbook (can be considered as the fruit of the poisonous tree since it’s) not among the items which the court allowed the NBI to seize. Hence, whatever that logbook contains is not admissible as evidence,” dela Cerna told reporters.

Information gathered by the NBI from the security logbook showed Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion taking a red Toyota Vios sedan out of the compound in the morning of the day Archival and his companions were killed.

The security logbook also showed entries that Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, former HPG-7 chief, who went out of the impounding area aboard a gray Mitsubishi Strada pickup truck on Feb. 17, or the day before the attack took place.

Account

The two vehicles were returned to the HPG impounding center in barangay Sudlon, Cebu City hours after the ambush in Dalaguete town.

The account of Paolo Cortes, lone survivor of the ambush and footage of closed-circuit TV (CCTVs) cameras showed that the perpetrators were on board a gray Mitsubishi Strada truck and red Toyota Vios sedan.

The NBI traced and recovered the red sedan.

The NBI filed charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder against five policemen assigned to the regional HPG office before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.

The charges are presently undergoing preliminary investigation although the respondents’ are seeking the inhibition of all provincial prosecutors. Named respondents were Iglesia, Lerion, Senior Insp. Eduardo Mara, SPO4 Edwin Galan, and PO1 Alex Bacani.

They are also facing administrative and criminal charges before the Ombudsman for allegedly using impounded vehicles.

The five policemen are under restriction at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame pending resolution of the charges filed against them.

Archival and his companions Candido Miñoza, Alejandro Jaime, and Cortes were ambushed inside their vehicle while traversing the national road in Dalaguete town.