City Dads Ask PNP Chief: Place HPG under ‘Camp Restriction’

Cebu City legislators has requested PNP Chief Alan Purisima to place under “camp restriction” all members of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG-7) so that they can easily appear for investigation about their possible involvement in the February 18 ambush and killing of Atty. Noel Archival in Barangay Coro, Dalaguete.

A “camp restriction” means that a police or military officer will not be allowed to go out of the camp without prior approval from their superior officers.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the members of the Special Investigation Task Group Archival headed by Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Noel Gillamac are now investigating the HPG-7 after one of the vehicles allegedly used in the ambush has been recovered at their impounding area in Sitio Sudlon, Lahug last week.

The report said that the Red Toyota Vios sedan that was recovered inside the HPG-7 impounding area matched to the footage retrieved by the police from the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in Dalaguete before and after the ambush of Archival.

Police authorities are still hesitant to elaborate the details on how they came to know that one of the vehicles used in the ambush was found at the HPG-7 impounding area situated at the former CPPO headquarters.

City Councilor Gerardo Carillo also asked Purisima to direct the HPG members to conduct an inventory of all vehicles impounded by them and to submit a report about it to the NBI, and that the firearms of all HPG members shall be subjected to ballistics examination.

For his part, Councilor Nestor Archival, the brother of the slain lawyer, appealed to the investigating police and NBI personnel to speed up their investigation into the case.

According to Archival he met with Purisima in Manila and he urged the latter to place under preventive suspension Senior Superintendent
Romualdo Iglesia of HPG-Region 7 and other law enforcers who might be involved in the killing of his brother Noel.

The NBI had already sent summons to Iglesia, Chief Inspector Eduardo Mara and Senior Inspector Joselito Lerion and SPO4 Edwin Galan to appear before them for questioning about the circumstances of how the vehicle impounded by them had been sighted in Dalaguete during the ambush.

The Red Toyota Vios that was among the subjects of a search warrant issued by RTC Judge Soliver Peras is already in the custody of the NBI. Found inside the said vehicle was the copy of a letter of Atty. Archival that was furnished to HPG officials requesting the court for the postponement of the submission of the required documents related to the case of his client.

It was learned that months before Archival was killed, he had filed administrative charges against 12 members of the HPG-Region 7, including Iglesia, before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The lawyer’s brother asked why the Toyota Vios, which was suspected to be a “hot car” was used in the killing, when it was supposed to be impounded at the HPG compound.

Image Credit: cebudailynews.inquirer.net