The head of the National Bureau of Investigation in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental whose agents claimed to have been mauled by policemen of Pamplona town on Feb. 4, yesterday urged Chief Insp. Julius Muñez, police deputy director of Oriental Negros, to seek an independent probe, if he is not interested in cooperating with the NBI fact-finding body from Central Visayas now looking into the incident.

Bacolod NBI agent-in-charge Philip Pecache yesterday told the DAILY STAR that Muñez, by defying the subpoena for him to appear before the fact-finding commission of the NBI-Region 7, has, in effect, waived his right to present his side on what really transpired between the NBI men and the Pamplona policemen he was leading during the alleged mauling.

"His refusal is tantamount to a waiver on his part," Pecache said, adding that if Muñez doesn't trust the NBI probe team, then he should seek other investigating bodies or agencies to look into the case.

Told that Muñez had earlier submitted an incident report to the police regional command and furnished the NBI with a copy, and had said it would already suffice, Pecache said he has not seem the report, nor is he interested in requesting for it, lest, he would be projected as biased. The parties in the case include his men at NBI Bacolod.

Four out of the nine armed men who said they were NBI agents allegedly barged into the Pamplona Plantation Center on Feb. 4, to serve a search warrant to Korean national Ha Hae Bong for alleged illegal gun possession. They were allegedly beaten up by the Pamplona policemen who mistook them for bogus law enforcers.

The officer-in-charge of the company, Leah Bobon, on Monday charged the Bacolod-based NBI men with usurpation of authority, claiming that of the four NBI "agents," only two were real, and the others were not, including the two others who are employees of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.

Facing charges for violating Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code are Benjie Belleza of the Philippine Taekwondo Association in Bacolod; Francis Ramos, driver of NBI-Bacolod; Cyrun Alosan alias Syrus Alazan, and Eric Jamio alias Eric Plamco, both of the BID Central office.*GCT

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