The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas yesterday started conducting a fact-finding mission to the mauling and beating up of five NBI agents from Bacolod City and two officials from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, by policemen from Pamplona, Oriental Negros, last Saturday.

This developed as four charges were filed yesterday against the NBI -Bacolod agents (see story page 1).

The Commission on Human Rights local office, meanwhile, has also been ordered to conduct its own independent probe into the matter.
The NBI team headed by acting regional director Medardo De Lemos, was briefed on the incident by NBI Dumaguete City District Office head Dominador Cimafranca.

After the briefing, the team talked with Gov. George Arnaiz in an effort to determine what really happened in Pamplona, the governor's hometown.
De Lemos said NBI-Region 7 has been ordered to investigate and submit a report on the incident to their central office.

The NBI agents had earlier claimed they were beaten up by about 15 Pamplona policemen at the Pamplona Golf and Country Club, where they were supposed to enforce a search warrant on Korean national, Ha Hae Bong, for alleged possession of loose firearms, among other charges.

Cimafranca showed his counterparts in the NBI-7 copies and certifications from the Pamplona police and belied claims of lack of coordination on the part of the NBI-Bacolod operatives.

He said the town police logbook showed that at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, the NBI agents from Bacolod had already made known their presence in Pamplona. In fact, two police officers were sent to the area, he added.

In Dumaguete, the incident was also logged, including the release of the security guards earlier disarmed by the NBI operatives.

For his part, Pamplona Mayor Jun Arnaiz, the governor's brother, countered the report saying that coordination was made only after the disarming of the security guards.

Mayor Arnaiz pointed out that all armed elements seen in his area of responsibility should be checked and should coordinate with his office first before making any operation.

Police provincial director, Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, who was summoned to the office of Governor Arnaiz yesterday to give his report on the incident, refused an interview with reporters.

He was earlier quoted as having ordered a thorough investigation on what happened.

On the other hand, the Commission on Human Rights was also directed to conduct a separate investigation on the incident.

CHR special field investigator Jess Cañete received the order yesterday morning from CHR regional director Alejandro Alonzo Jr. to conduct a moto propio or an independent investigation and to submit his report as soon as possible.

Cañete said what happened was a sensitive case because the parties involved are both members of government law enforcement agencies.*

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