Report by Donita Rose Villarama
3:51pm WEDNESDAY · JULY 25, 2007
A former aide of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim in the police force is in hot water once more following the approval of the Office of the Ombudsman to file criminal charges against him and 12 others in connection with the alleged illegal arrest and detention of a travel agency operator in 2005.
3:51pm WEDNESDAY · JULY 25, 2007
A former aide of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim in the police force is in hot water once more following the approval of the Office of the Ombudsman to file criminal charges against him and 12 others in connection with the alleged illegal arrest and detention of a travel agency operator in 2005.n a resolution, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez affirmed the recommendation of the Justice department to file charges of Usurpation of Authority and Serious Illegal Detention against Reynaldo Jaylo, SPO1 Romero Noriega, PO1 James Emmanuel Pineda, PO3 F. Ponce, PO3 Francisco Quito, PO2 Geronimo Opelac, Lucio Margallo IV, Cresencion Cabasal, William Valenzona, Rodolfo Sosa, Rosauro Dalisay, Nicasio Ramoran and Dorvin Peña.
All were former members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force (PAIRTF) whose existence expired on July 9, 2005.
Aside from the filing of charges, the Ombudsman also referred to the National Police Commission (Napolcom) the proceedings of an administrative case against the respondents.
The case against Jaylo and his group stemmed from a complaint filed by Monaliza Banzon, wife of Kenneth Banzon, senior vice-president of Filipinas-Global Travel and Tours Corporation, before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) alleging that the AIRTF agents illegally detained the businessman on suspicion that he was engaged in illegal recruitment.
Records showed that Kenneth was arrested by PAIRTF operatives on Sept. 27, 2005 without any warrant of arrest or any court order and despite the fact that AIRTF had ceased to exist as early as July that year.
The businessman was said to have been brought to the defunct task force's office and was held there for days.The Banzon couple's lawyer wrote a letter to Jaylo demanding his client's release but it was not heeded. Even the decision of the Manila regional trial court Branch 173 ordering the release of Kenneth on Oct. 5, 2005 was also ignored.
hese prompted the NBI to elevate the case to the DOJ, which found probable cause to charge the respondents.
The DOJ panel also recommended that Jaylo be charged as co-conspirator for he was the head of the defunct PAIRTF at the time of the commission of the offense.
Some of the respondents sought the referral of their case to the Office of the Ombudsman which subsequently found that the DOJ "correctly found probable cause for the crime of Serious Illegal Detention against the respondents.
"The Ombudsman further ruled that the respondents' power to act in accordance with the AIRTF's function to combat illegal recruitment "ceased to exist as the office has only a duration of one (1) year or until 9 July 2005. Thus the abduction and detention of Kenneth Banzon on 27 Sept. 2005 was way beyond the respondent's authority to operate granting that they have the power to do so.
"On the charge of usurpation of authority, the Ombudsman said that Jaylo and his group's acts of arresting and detaining Kenneth Banzon purportedly on complaints for estafa and large-scale illegal recruitment without the necessary legal authority made them liable under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.
Just this April, Jaylo had been convicted by the Sandiganbayan for the killing of two military officials and a civilian during a supposed drug buy-bust operation in 1990.
Killed were Army Col. Rolando de Guzman, Major Franco Calanog, and Avelino Manguera. The incident happened at the Magallanes Commercial Center in Makati City on July 10, 1990.
The Sandiganbayan First Division found Jaylo, former Patrolman Edgardo Castro, Private First Class William Valenzona and Pfc. Antonio Hablo guilty of homicide and sentenced them to a minimum of six years and one day to a maximum of 14 years, eight months and one day in prison.
The respondents have been at large since although their lawyers have filed a motion for reconsideration before the antigraft court. Jaylo had been closely associated with Lim dating back to their days at the Manila Police Department.
