Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña yesterday said that, contrary to the claim of Samson Mondia, Marvin Mata was his security officer.

Peña yesterday furnished the DAILY STAR an affidavit of Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, Negros Occidental police director, that said that, based on the report submitted to him by his operatives, Marvin (also known as Martin) Mata, one of the suspects identified by Peña in his ambush, admitted that he was hired and worked as a security escort of Mondia, but claimed to have resigned on May 17, 2007 .

Mondia ‘s lawyer Jovim Entila maintained that Mata was never hired by Samson Mondia nor was he his security escort during the 2007 campaign.

Because he was not the one who conducted the interrogation, the claim of Franco in his affidavit is hearsay, Entila said.

Mata, in a handwritten statement he brought to the DAILY STAR last night said that when he was interrogated by the army and police he did not say that he worked as a security escort of Mondia.

But the documents are there, Peña said.

Twenty Pulupandan barangay captains earlier sent a letter to Philippine Ports Authority general manager Oscar Sevilla to cancel the contract of the Integrated Stevedoring and Arrastre Corp. owned and operated by the Mondia family that operates the arrastre and stevedoring services of the port of Pulupandan .

They also wrote a letter to Peña asking him not to renew the business permit of ISACOR in Pulupandan.

They claimed the Mondia family is a known supporter of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army, and that Marvin Mata, a known Regional Sparrow Commander of the NPA, was hired by Samson Mondia as his security officer during the election period.

Peña also furnished the DAILY STAR a copy of the police custodial debriefing report on Mata that detailed his membership in the CPP-NPA.

The report said Mata revealed that on March 24, 2007 he went to his godfather Arturo Pabiona, a former rebel leader, to seek help in finding a job. Pabiona helped him get a job with Mayor Mondia as his close-in security escort, Mata told his interogators, but he denied taking part in the failed ambush on Peña on May 30, 2007 .

A Military Intelligence Group 6 report also states that on March 24, 2007 Mata applied as security officer of Samson Mondia, he said.

“I do not have to prove that Samson Mondia has close ties to the NPA, Mata has already done that during his tactical interrogation and Franco confirmed it,” Peña said.

“The only reason Samson Mondia hired Mata was to liquidate me,” he also said.

“It does not take nuclear scientists to deduce that,” Peña said.

Samson Mondia, ISACOR vice president, yesterday maintained that Mata has never been his security officer.

Mondia said he never hired Mata, Peña is just making the charges up.

If Peña positively identified me as his ambusher, he should have mentioned my name immediately after the ambush so the police could conduct hot pursuit operations against me, Mondia said.

Peña named the suspects in the ambush after several days as an afterthought, Mondia said.

“The real truth is Magsie does not know who his assailants were,” Mondia said.

Peña's accusations against me are designed to pressure me to surrender to him. Now that I have not surrendered him, he is resorting to different tactics with the use of the barangay captains and the port permit, Mondia said.

Peña, on the other hand, said he immediately mentioned Mondia contrary to his claim.

Peña also said he does not need Mondia to surrender, “I do not need him for anything, he lost against me in the last election.”

Peña did not communicate to us regarding the mayor's permit, Mondia also said.

Peña, on the other hand, said he had asked Mondia to come to the Pulupandan town hall to discuss the matter.

Mondia wanted to talk in Bacolod on neutral ground so maybe he should get his permit in Bacolod , Peña said.*CPG

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