By Ronron
May 21, 2007
The two cops implicated in the arson of a school in Batangas last May 15 denied involvement in the incident and sought for their immediate release from detention in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
In an interview with the media on Monday, Inspector Roberto Marinda, relieved head of the Batangas Special Operations Group (SOG), said he and his deputy, SPO2 William Relos, Jr., were 11 kilometers away from the Pinagbayanan Elementary School in Taysan town at the time it was torched by five armed men.
“We did not even go to Pinagbayanan that night because it is very remote… We cannot do that (burn the school). How can I do that when I have a sister who is a teacher?” Marinda said.
The arson, which took place around 3am of May 15, left a teacher and a poll watcher killed.
Marinda admitted that he, Relos and three other SOG personnel passed by Taysan past midnight of May 14 but they only stayed at the poblacion, or the town proper.
He said he has some local officials, including Taysan Vice Mayor Luis Favorito, who attested that they were in the town proper at around 3am, preparing to end their roving around town as requested by then Taysan Mayor Hernando Villena.
Marinda’s lawyer, Romeo Esmero, said not even one of the 30 witnesses of the police investigators pointed at Marinda and Relos as among the perpetrators.
Esmero said they suspect it is the group of Tayson Mayor-elect Victor Portugal, Jr. who actually carried out the attack, pointing out the sighting of Portugal’s two vehicles at the vicinity of the school before it was burned, and the fact that Portugal was losing in the count at said school.
Esmero said Portugal had also threatened Relos before the incident in relation to the apprehension by the SOG of a barangay chairman who is allied with Portugal.
“This is politically-motivated,” Esmero said of the incident.
“My clients are being used as sacrificial lamb,” he added.
In a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus he intends to file before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for the release of Marinda and Relos, Esmero said Villena could not have ordered the burning of the school because he was the one who requested the roving of the SOG personnel for the maintenance of peace and order.
The police earlier had accused the SOG personnel to have links with Villena who, investigators said, could have ordered the arson so he will have basis to seek for a declaration of failure of election.
Villena lost to Portugal in the final counting.
Asked if indeed he has ties with Villena as alleged by the PNP higher authorities, Marinda said: “Let me emphasize that I just assumed office (as RSOG Batangas Team Leader) two days before the incident. I came from Bicol.”
Esmero said he will file this morning (Tuesday) the petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, noting that the PNP has no case against Marinda and Relos.
“I am requesting the PNP (Philippine National Police) organization to provide an explanation why my clients are being detained right now. Although they (PNP) are saying that they (Marinda and Relos) are just under restrictive custody, they are still in detention. And they could not leave the camp,” Esmero said in an interview at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) office where his clients are being held since Friday.
Esmero said the PNP deceived his clients by telling them that they will participate in a fact-finding investigation in Camp Crame last Friday, when in fact, they were already subjected to restrictive custody.
Marinda lamented that his implication in the case is only based on the suspicion of Taysan Deputy chief of Police Insp. Ruel dela Cruz.
Dela Cruz allegedly said that Marinda matched with one of the artist’s sketch of a possible suspect, and the SOG personnel’s swift arrival at the crime scene was highly suspicious, said Marinda.
Marinda said it should not be dela Cruz who will identify him as the person on the sketch, but the witness who provided the description./DMS
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