Multiple charges will be filed today against agents of the Bacolod National Bureau of Investigation and their companions who served a search warrant against a Korean businessman in Pamplona town Saturday.

NBI Bacolod chief Philip Pecache yesterday called the charges a move to divert the issue away from the fact that his men and their companions were beaten up.

Lawyer Joel Llosa yesterday said he is filing charges against the NBI agents and their companions in behalf of businessman Ha Hae Bong and other civilians who were affected by their actions.

He, however, refused to disclose details of the charges until they are filed before the Negros Oriental Prosecutors Office.

Llosa said he was informed that not all of those who served the search warrant for illegal possession of firearms against Ha were NBI agents.
Of the team Ed Kawada and Menci Mamaspas are NBI agents, Benjie Belleza and Francis Ramos are NBI consultants, and Syrus Alazan and Eric Plamco are from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation in Manila.

Pecache, however, said the move to file charges does not erase the fact that the NBI team members were beaten up allegedly by Negros Oriental policemen and civilians at the Pamplona Golf and Country Club where they tried to serve their search warrant.

"I am appealing to sympathizers of the NBI to remain calm. Those specifically responsible will be identified soon. The matter is now under investigation by the Region 7 offices of the NBI and PNP," he said.

"This is a fight between the search warrant ordered by the court against those who defied such order. The NBI is just an instrument of the court in the service of the search warrant. This is not a fight between the NBI and the PNP," he said.

Allegations were also hurled yesterday that the trip of the NBI team to Negros Oriental was financed by Pastor Kim Seong Kook, the complainant against Ha.

To that, Pecache said, let the ongoing investigations on the incident show who is telling the truth.

Mamaspas, NBI team leader, operated by the book and can account for his actions, Pecache said.

Romeo Baldevarona, Commission on Human Rights Bacolod spokesman, said the other issues being raised do not erase the fact that beatings occurred and those are human rights violations.*CPG

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