No military report linking police general to car thieves

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines does not have any report linking Police Director Roberto Rosales to car theft syndicates, according to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.

Robredo, who earlier said his department has been investigating the possible coddling of carjacking syndicates by police officials, said he had asked AFP Chief of Staff Ricardo David about the existence of the so-called intelligence report implicating Rosales. But Robredo said David "totally denied there is such a report."

A report published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted a source in the military as saying that there has been information about Rosales’s coddling of the car theft syndicate allegedly headed by brothers Roger and Raymond Dominguez in Central. The alleged military intelligence report has also pointed to information linking Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan, former head of the defunct Traffic Management Group (TMG) in Central Luzon, to car theft.

Rosales and Cauyan denied any link to carjacking syndicates, and said their track record in apprehending carjackers could be the reason why unseen forces have been trying to destroy their reputations.

At the same time, the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group said it did not receive any report, whether intelligence data or validated ones, linking Rosales to car theft, as alleged by an intelligence report purportedly from the AFP.

“I officially informed him (Rosales) that as far as HPG is concerned, we have not received any report or information, whether intelligence or investigation, pertaining to him as one of the coddlers involved in carnapping (sic),” HPG director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina told reporters during a news conference.

Espina said police are the main unit investigating car thefts and said that they were “surprised” over the release of the report.

“I would like to be fair to the good director. In fairness to him, there are no intelligence reports linking him as far as we are concerned,” Espina added.

Rosales seemingly was also cleared by no less than PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo.

Quoting Bacalzo during their conversation on Sunday, Rosales said, “He told me, ‘Boysie, that’s nothing.’ But I told him, ‘Sir, this is very serious and I have to face this query.’”

However, Bacalzo still organized an investigating body to look into these allegations and coordinate with the AFP to obtain a copy of the intelligence report.

Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said police are coordinating with the AFP’s intelligence unit (or J2) to obtain a copy of the report.

Espina said that the supposed intelligence report from the AFP was being treated as “yet raw and unconfirmed.”

“Anybody can name anyone in intelligence reports using perception, issue blind items, and others including their enemies, taking advantage of the sensitiveness of the issue at hand…to muddle our investigation or skirt specific cases we have charged them with,” he said.

Espina appealed to concerned units, including the “intel community,” to forward to them reports for proper investigation.

Meanwhile, Rosales on Monday reiterated his denial of any involvement in car theft.

He challenged those behind the report to come out and back up their allegations.

“Face me like a man and accuse me with that so-called confidential report. In person. In front of the people. Together with your cohorts. Let us face the investigating body of the executive and legislative branches of the government and answer all the questions bedeviling us,” Rosales told a separate news conference.

He said that he was using his skills in intelligence-gathering to identify the person or group behind the report, which he called as “malicious” and a “smear campaign” against him.

“Bakit hindi siya lumabas? Kung talagang meron talaga silang report, ebidensiya, bakit hindi sila lumalabas? Isa lang ang namumuo sa isipan natin: kung meron silang kinalaman sa sindikatong ito, gagawa at gagawa sila ng paraan dahil well-entrenched yan (Why won’t he come out. If there is such a report, or evidence, why doesn’t he come out? Only one thing is forming in our minds: if they have something to do with this syndicate, they will do everything because they’re well-entrenched),” Rosales said. (report from Abigail Kwok and Alcuin Papa, Inquirer.net & Philippine Daily Inquirer)