POSTED BAIL 19 TIMES: DE LIMA ORDERS REVIEW OF CASES VS DOMINGUEZ
MANILA, JANUARY 27, 2011 (STAR) By Edu Punay - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is investigating whether suspected car theft gang leader Raymond Dominguez has cohorts in the Department of Justice (DOJ).
She wants to know how Dominguez was able to post bail 19 times and get away with carjacking cases.
"Was there really basis in the dismissal of cases?" she asked.
De Lima said she will reopen cases found to have been resolved under questionable circumstances.
"We can always order reopening of cases, if warranted, if there are indications that the previous dismissal has been questionable or irregular," she said.
De Lima said prosecutors should have considered recidivism in resolving the cases against Dominguez.
"Did they not consider raising the recommended bail amount?" she asked.
"If bail is a matter of right for bailable offenses, then at least there should be standards for that."
De Lima said the joint DOJ-Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) probe body would look into possible involvement of law enforcers and other government officials in car theft.
The investigation would cover officials of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and government prosecutors, she added.
De Lima said the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Highway Patrol Group will also be investigated.
"The group of Dominguez could probably be just a tip of the iceberg," she said.
"It's difficult to believe that carnapping has grown as an illegal trade without collusion, connivance and conspiracy or at the very least knowledge of law enforcers."
De Lima said the DILG already has the names of several police officers linked to the car theft gang.
However, they have not been divulged so as not to preempt the investigation and actions of the government, she added.
At Malacañang, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government is committed to bring to justice those involved in recent crimes.
"Those who are liable must be held accountable," she said.
Valte said Malacañang will look at the results of the Land Transportation Office's investigation into the car theft cases.
"They (LTO) people do not see everything within its ranks," she said.
Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said they will thoroughly investigate the suspected collusion between the car theft gangs and some government agencies.
Carjacking would not flourish if the suspects did not have cohorts in the government, he added.
Robredo said the DILG and DOJ will form an elite team to investigate some government officials that are helping car thieves in their illegal activities.
"This is a symptom of what is happening for a long time," he said.
Robredo said car theft gangs would not thrive if they did not enjoy protection from law enforcers.
"We need a thorough investigation to know the connections of Dominguez and his cohorts with those from government agencies," he said.
"Carnapping will not become a big trade if there are no people who register (stolen vehicles), if there are no others in cahoots to make this business flourish."
Robredo sought the help of governors, mayors and the citizenry in the fight against crime.
"This is in view of the apparent boldness and total disregard of the law by some unscrupulous elements of our society," he said.
Police: Car papers can be tampered
A police official revealed yesterday how car registration documents can be tampered to benefit criminal gangs.
Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo, Quezon City police Anti-Carnapping Section commander, told The STAR a vehicle owner in Metro Manila may find out that another car in the province is bearing the same license plate number as that of his vehicle.
"Definitely, the other license plate is tampered with and there is a strong probability that the vehicle bearing it has been stolen," he said.
Somebody in the LTO might have facilitated the registration of the "kambal" (twin) or second plate number, he added.
Contacted for comment, LTO spokesman Bobby Ricohermoso said these schemes could not be immediately pinpointed to LTO personnel.
Marcelo said a car theft gang could also resort to "lipat bahay" or the buying of documents of a vehicle wrecked in an accident to use them for a stolen vehicle.
The wrecked vehicle should be of the same model and color as that of the car they had stolen to make it appear that the two vehicles are one and the same, he added.
Marcelo said vehicles are also tagged as "talon," which are bought through loans using fictitious names.
After reneging payment on the loan, the buyer would run away with the vehicle and resell it to another person using tampered documents, he added.
Marcelo said in some cases, vehicles seemingly legitimate are duly registered with the LTO.
"When we spot the vehicle on the road and check with the database online, it would be shown that it is registered," he said.
"But when you check with the mother copy, the document is not even existent."
Those in cahoots with car theft gangs appear to have access to computerized registration records in the LTO, Marcelo said.
However, Ricohermoso said the manipulation of these documents and registration records has yet to be proven. The tampered documents were not necessarily manufactured by LTO personnel, he added.
Quezon City officials now want to be informed about transactions on second-hand vehicles to easily spot stolen vehicles.
Retired Gen. Elmo San Diego, Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety chief, said sales of second-hand vehicles should be reported to the police.
"We could easily follow up cases of car theft and carjacking with this type of reporting," he said.
It is a requirement under the Anti-Fencing Law, San Diego said.
Lawmakers: No bail for car thieves
More members of the House of Representatives are backing the clamor to deny bail to car thieves.
Representatives Jaye Lacson-Noel of Malabon and Salvio Fortuno of Camarines Sur separately filed bills yesterday to make the crime of carjacking under certain circumstances a non-bailable offense.
Earlier, Representatives Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo of Abante Mindanao, Winston Castelo of Quezon City, and Irwin Tieng of Buhay introduced similar bills.
Bills of the same nature have also been filed in the Senate.
The mounting public clamor for stiffer penalties for car thieves and to keep them in jail is expected to prompt lawmakers to expedite action on proposals for longer prison terms and to deny bail to violators of the Anti-Carnapping Act.
Under the bills of Lacson-Noel and Fortuno, no bail would be available when car theft is committed by means of violence, intimidation or force upon things, or when the owner, driver or occupant of the stolen vehicle is killed or raped.
Lacson-Noel said her proposal would "fill the gap" in the Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972.
"I can understand the frustration of our policemen who risk their lives in trying to put carnappers in jail only to find out later that they are out on bail faster than getting them behind bars," she said.
"I also sympathize with citizens whose sense of security is threatened by reports of crime," she said.
"It is our duty to ensure that we are able to protect their rights to feel safe in their own neighborhoods. We need to amend the law on this if only to provide higher protection to our policemen and citizens."
Fortuno said denying bail to car thieves would make it harder for them to pursue their illegal activities.
"The paramount objective of this is to deter further commission of such crime because the suspect cannot continue his nefarious activities while languishing in jail," he said.
"It must be noted that one of the suspects in the gruesome killing of car dealer Venson Evangelista and possibly Emerson Lozano has 15 car theft cases pending in various courts. Yet, he remains scot-free." – With Aurea Calica, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Reinir Padua, Jess Diaz
Evidence planted vs Dominguez? By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) Updated January 27, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (9) View comments
MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday led lawmakers in grilling top police officials over the integrity of the pieces of evidence seized by the police against suspected car theft ringleader Raymond Dominguez.
Enrile questioned the police operations where lawmen recovered the partially burned driver's license of victim Venson Evangelista and several vehicle license plates from various safehouses of the suspects.
Enrile did not discount the possibility that the police could have planted evidence in an earnest effort to solve the crime.
He said the police were under intense public pressure to solve the case.
"You see, you are under a tremendous disadvantage in the public mind and I'm warning you, because of the propensity of some of your operators to plant evidence," Enrile told Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo.
Bacalzo appeared before the Senate to explain the evidence seized from Dominguez and his group that would link them to the murder of Evangelista and fellow car dealer Emerson Lozano and driver Ernane Sensil.
Enrile, a lawyer by profession, said he is baffled why the members of a car theft syndicate would leave traces that would link them to the crime. He cited the personal belongings of the victims seized by lawmen in several raids at suspected safehouses of the syndicate recently in Pampanga.
"How come that his wallet was reported to have been found if his body was burned? The perpetrator of the crime must be crazy. The purpose of burning the body was precisely the intention of the perpetrator to hide the evidence of the crime," Enrile said.
Enrile believes that a criminal is not stupid enough to keep evidence that will link him to the crime.
Enrile also warned the police against filing charges against the suspects that might be dismissed because of a technicality.
Bacalzo then explained the police investigators used the statement of witnesses as basis in filing the criminal charges.
He said the witnesses had claimed the suspects took all identification documents from Evangelista before he was killed.
Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima also denied insinuations that the evidence gathered by his men during the raids were planted.
"How can one plant that big amount of evidence?" Purisima said.
He added the police conducted the operations thoroughly following the witnesses' accounts.
Purisima also did not discount the possibility of a drug angle in the killing of Evangelista.
Purisima said they are also looking into the possibility that other police officers are protecting the syndicate.
But Purisima refused to comment on reports that a police colonel is among the protectors of the car theft ring.
Closing in
The police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said they are already closing in on the government officials and policemen supposedly giving protection to the carjacking syndicate.
CIDG chief Director Leon Nilo de la Cruz said they are gathering evidence against policemen and government officials who are reportedly protecting the carjacking operation of Dominguez.
"The unmasking of their police and government official protectors is part of our investigation into the Evangelista case. We are still in the process of validating reports," De la Cruz said.
De la Cruz, however, did not elaborate on the details and denied earlier reports that at least four policemen are in the gang's payroll.
"We received no reports to that effect as yet but we are working on something," De la Cruz said in response to reports that four policemen were on the take.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo suspected that some government officials and policemen have been giving protection to the Dominguez carjacking gang.
Robredo yesterday said a joint team from the DILG and the Department of Justice (DOJ) would conduct an assessment and the possible connection of some politicians, government officials and law enforcers to the syndicate.
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