"I love this province. I come from this province and I will protect it from bad elements."

That was the response of Police Chief Inspector Julius Muñez, deputy police provincial director for Oriental Negros, to the report that he led policemen in beating up a team of NBI agents from Bacolod City at the Pamplona Golf and Country Club last Saturday (related story on page 1). Muñez insisted that the NBI agents did not coordinate with the Provincial Police Office before they disarmed the guards of the Pamplona Golf and Country Club, leading everyone in the area to doubt the identities of the armed men who were riding a Starex Van.

NBI Bacolod chief Philip Pecache, however, yesterday insisted that his men had coordinated with the Pamplona police.

In his report to the Police Regional Director in Cebu City, Muñez said an alert had already been issued on the Starex van, which carried an unidentified number of male persons armed with different caliber firearms, including high powered rifles, after the armed men brandished their M-16 rifles and pointed their guns at bystanders at the boundary of Sibulan town and Dumaguete City about 5 p.m. on February 1.

On Saturday, February 4, Muñez said his office received a report about a Starex van with unidentified armed male passengers within the area of Dumaguete City.

Provincial Police Director Melvin Ramon Buenafe dispatched two teams led by Muñez and Supt. Mohiden Balimbingan, group director of the 705th Provincial Mobile Group, to verify the reports, and to identify the group.

Muñez said that, meanwhile, they again received a report that the armed group was sighted going north, and later, the Police teams caught up with the group at the Pamplona golf course.

Upon arrival at the golf course, Muñez said his team was informed by the duty security guards that they had been disarmed of their issued .38 caliber revolvers and 12 gauge shotguns by the armed men. This prompted the police to immediately take positions, because they suspected that the group was a criminal gang.

Muñez also said that the armed men who were spotted at the back portion of the cottage at the area were behaving suspiciously. One armed male who was holding the trigger of his 5.56 caliber carbine rifle was restless and moved suspiciously. Muñez said he ordered the disarming of the four armed men sensing the volatile situation which, he said, could endanger the policemen as well as the civilians in the area.

Muñez said the armed men resisted but they were successfully subdued. While they were conducting body searches on the arrested persons, a white Ford Everest SUV with no plate number sped away with five armed men. They also brought with them the confiscated firearms of the security guards, Muñez said, quoting witnesses.

The NBI agents who were disarmed by the policemen led by Muñez were identified as Ed Kawada, Menci Mamaspas, Benjie Belleza, Francis Ramos, Syrus Alazan and Eric Plamco.

Muñez said the incident transpired because of lack of coordination made by the NBI and Immigration Officer with the Provincial Police Office.

He said that the Bacolod NBI agents held a meeting with Sr. Supt. Buenafe and NBI Dumaguete head Dominador Cimafranca after the incident, and claimed that the Bacolod NBI agents even apologized for their failure to coordinate with local authorities.*Alex Pal

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Meanwhile, a Negros Oriental police report said the six Bacolod NBI agents including an officer of the Bureau of Immigration entered the golf course to allegedly search for firearms of undetermined caliber, and drugs.

The subject of the search warrant issued by a Cebu Regional Trial Court Judge Simeon Dumdum was a certain Michael Ha of the Arari Corporation, which operates the golf course.

The armed men who were later identified as NBI agents alighted from the Starex van, allegedly pointed their M-16, Uzi machine pistol and several 45 pistols while disarming the blue guards, namely, Roel Sagmit, Richard Omoso, Virgilio Monteron, Glenn Salva and Merlindo Cabusog, before searching the canteens, the kitchen and the employees quarters, allegedly sending foreign guests and visitors into shock. They only found sugar and spices, the joint affidavit of the blue guards said.

Leah Bobon, officer-in-charge of the Pamplona Golf Course, also issued an affidavit that the search was conducted in the absence of a barangay official.

Muñez said his team was acting in good faith, and since Pamplona Golf course is in the area of responsibility of the provincial command, it was their duty to check on the presence of unidentified armed men while on high alert against terrorism, insurgency, de-stabilizers and criminal elements.

The police later learned that on February 1, 2006, three days before the incident, the same armed men, disarmed a blue guard of the same agency detailed in the soon-to-open Spa outlet of Michael Ha, located at the city limit between Sibulan and Dumaguete.

The local NBI office headed by Dominador Cimafranca confirmed that their counterpart in Bacolod made a phone call about the so-called operation, in coordination with the Pamplona police.

In fact, a television station in Bacolod City called their counterpart in Dumaguete to cover the serving of the search warrant, Cimafranca said.

Cimafranca was under orders from NBI Manila to conduct an investigation on the matter of the claims of the six Bacolod NBI agents that they were manhandled in Pamplona by the police.*Juancho Gallarde

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