ILOILO CITY - As expected by some, a police fact-finding team yesterday cleared troopers of the 6th Regional Mobile Group stationed in Negros Occidental, from any "infractions" during their siege of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol.

Police Director Edgardo Doromal, head of the fact-finding team tasked to investigate the Iloilo Capitol assault, said he will even recommend to PNP chief Oscar Calderon that the Western Visayas policemen be commended for doing their job. Doromal also justified the assault and breaking of the glass doors of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, saying it was not "overkill" as claimed by others.

"The Philippine National Police fielded just enough policemen - 200 - to maintain peace and order, as an estimated 1,000 supporters of Governor Niel Tupas, had barricaded the Capitol and with the support of heavily armed men holed up inside the building," Doromal, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said.

Fearful of a stampede that could severely hurt or even kill many of the trapped civilians, the RMG men had no recourse but to break glass panels to provide a safe passageway for these people, he added.

Based on police operational procedures, the Region 6 policemen had not committed infractions and only did their job, Doromal stressed. "Praise God for our exoneration," said Senior Supt. Pedro Merced, who supervised the entry of the 6th RMG troopers into the Iloilo Capitol on Jan. 17, which elicited condemnation not only from Tupas and his political allies, but even from the Commission on Human Rights.

"I was there to follow orders and to implement what I was supposed to do," Merced said.

At least 65 RMG troopers, backed by more than 100 anti-riot policemen and a V-150 armored personnel carrier, stormed the Capitol to remove Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. who had refused to obey a dismissal order of the Ombudsman and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

The Iloilo Capitol is a 2,248-square meter, six-storey building with 37 offices that ordinarily needs more than a hundred highly-trained Special Weapons and Tactics personnel to secure, Doromal said.

This means that the 65 RMG personnel who were deployed to enter the building were actually not enough in the face of a situation, he said. RMG troopers from Negros Occidental were sent to Iloilo "because they are capable of doing the job, non partisan and objective in executing their mission," he said.

Doromal also said they had received reports of the presence of armed men, including provincial and blue guards as well as members of left-leaning organizations, who had openly declared their support to Tupas.

Based on the records of the Firearms and Explosives Office, the Iloilo provincial government has 52 firearms issued to provincial guards, and nine guns, including two high-powered ones, are licensed in the name of Board Member Niel Tupas Jr., son of Gov. Tupas, he said.

Our presumption was that all provincial guards present at the Capitol have been issued firearms, Doromal said in a multi-sectoral dialog held here.

The police fact-finding team also showed video footage showing Tupas Jr. and supporters of his father who had initiated the scuffle that prompted the Civil Disturbance Management Group to react, and of people trapped inside the Capitol because it was barricaded and padlocked.

Doromal said policemen did not point their guns at Tupas' children, they were merely asked to halt and sit down. While everyone had complied with the order, one of their companions suddenly stood up, prompting one RMG trooper to respond in accordance with police operational procedures on dealing with persons refusing to cooperate with lawmen.

We did what we had to do, he said.

What is important is that no single shot was fired and no physical injury was reported during the incident, except for a small scratch on the arm suffered by the younger Tupas when he initiated the scuffle outside the Capitol, Doromal added.

As to the call for resignation of Dulay as Region 6 police director and Merced as 6th RMG director, Doromal said "we are not in a position to submit such recommendation for their relief."

Had we discovered infractions, we could have recommended for further investigations, he said.

However, as far as his committee is concerned, there is no basis to conduct more investigations, unless somebody filed complaints against the policemen involved for serving the dismissal order on Tupas, Doromal said.*GPB

back to top