HIMAMAYLAN CITY - Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said the continued hiding of the six policemen facing kidnap-slay charges for the death of a former barangay chairman and his two companions in 2003, leads to a presumption that they are "guilty".

The six policemen-respondents in the abduction and killing of former Pahanocoy Brgy. Capt. Eleuterio Salabas and his two companions - Maximo Lomoljo and Ricardo Suganob - on August 30, 2003, - were identified as Chief Inspectors Clarence Dongail and Jimmy Fortaleza, Senior Inspector Jonathan Lorilla, PO2 Allen Winston Hulleza, PO1 Bernard Cimatu and SPO2 Freddie Natividad. "I am wondering why the police cannot arrest them because I was told that some of them are just in Bacolod", Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also issued a stern warning against law enforcers who allegedly coddle the six policemen whom he considers "fugitives", and said that he will personally charge them for "obstruction of justice", if the reports are true.

Dongail, Fortaleza, Lorilla, Hulleza, Natividad and Cimatu are also facing additional murder charges - this time for their alleged participation in the killing of Joefel Clemente, a police asset, also in August 2003.

If it can be proven that these people (the six policemen) are just there (Bacolod) and the police is not touching them, they are obstructing justice, Gonzalez said.

Philip Pecache, outgoing Bacolod NBI chief, said that, contrary to claims, the six accused policemen are no longer in Bacolod.

If they are in Bacolod, we could have served the arrest warrants against them already, Pecache said, adding "No one is above the law".

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, yesterday said they are doing their best to locate the six fugitive policemen.

Gonzalez also ordered Franco to coordinate with the NBI in the manhunt against the six policemen.

The filing of additional murder charges against them was connected to the death of Clemente, based on the sworn affidavit of police asset Cecil Brillantes, also a former police asset.

Brillantes who claimed to also have knowledge of the facts in the deaths of Salabas, Lomoljo and Suganob, applied for the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ and left for Manila last week.

Regional Trial Court Judge Roberto Chiongson had dismissed the murder charges against Brillantes who was earlier tagged as the prime suspect in the death of Joefel, for insufficiency of evidence.

Gonzalez confirmed having met a person who claimed to be also a witness in the Salabas-Suganob-Lomoljo kidnap-slay, although he cannot recall his name.

"I told him he must testify first before I place him under the protection program," Gonzalez said.

The six policemen were active in the campaign against a local drug syndicate operating in Bacolod City and other key cities of Negros Occidental.*GPB

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