MANILA, Philippines - National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda has linked the ambush attempt on him Tuesday night to the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of undocumented Japanese woman Noriyo Ohara.
In a phone interview, Esmeralda, who is confined at the Manila Doctor’s Hospital, said he could not think of any other case which could have triggered the ambush.
“It is one of the angles (I’m looking into),” said Esmeralda.
He said he had received death threats through text messages at least two weeks before the ambush. He said NBI Deputy Director for Intelligence Ruel Lasala also told him that a group is out to get him.
Doctors have declared Esmeralda out of danger. His brother, SPO1 Nilo Esmeralda, who was assigned at the PNP-Police Security and Protection Group and detailed with the NBI, was hit in the right shoulder and is confined also at Manila Doctor‘s Hospital.
Esmeralda’s bodyguard-driver SPO1 Danilo Ostia was unhurt.
Gatdula denies hand
Meanwhile, former NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula condemned insinuations that he had a hand in the ambush of Esmeralda.
“I am deeply saddened by what happened to NBI deputy director Reynaldo Esmeralda. But more so, I am greatly distressed over apparent attempts to link me to the ambush,” Gatdula said in a statement read by his spokesperson Doren Flora Manzanera in a press conference.
“I deny any involvement in the said crime. And I condemn insinuations that I have a hand in it,” Gatdula’s statement said.
“Even when my honor was tainted and my innocence prejudged by unfair accusations, I stepped down quietly, and submitted to the tedious process of the court to clear my name. But this is too much. This is an assault to my person. I have, and will never, insult, threaten, or harm any person just to vindicate myself,” Gatdula added.
When asked if the ambush was staged, Gatdula’s lawyer Abraham Espejo said, “What else would you call that?”
Espejo added that Esmeralda would benefit from Gatdula’s relief as NBI director.
“(As deputy director) he (Esmeralda) becomes a potential candidate to the office,” Espejo said.
Gatdula’s lawyer also asked why none of Esmeralda’s security escorts fired at the suspects, who were riding in tandem on a motorcycle.
Espejo also wondered why Esmeralda and his companions were not seriously wounded when the assassin was supposedly armed with an M-16 rifle.
Premature
NBI officer-in-charge Nonnatus Caesar Rojas said it is premature to link the ambush to the case of Ohara or Gatdula.
“(The ambush) has no motive yet,” said Rojas, in a separate interview at the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue, Manila.
“For the record, so that it is clear, we are not accusing anybody. We are not pointing a finger at anyone. We are just proceeding from the facts and from the evidence that we are gathering. Until such time we finish our investigation, we cannot point an accusing finger at anyone,” said Rojas.
A two-page spot report submitted by Superintendent Ricardo Layug Jr. to Manila Police District director Superintendent Alex Gutierrez stated that two unidentified suspects ambushed Esmeralda and his brother.
Esmeralda, his brother and his driver were in a dark green Land Cruiser with license plate XJS-858 on their way home to Paco, Manila at around 7:45 p.m, when two suspects on a red motorcycle without license plates shot at Esmeralda’s vehicle.
Layug said that based on the account of witnesses including village watchman Guzman Magante of Barangay 672, the suspects had waited for the victims.
As this developed, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said additional attention should be given to the investigation.
“I will confer with NCRPO (National Capital Region Police Office) chief if he has enough men. If he needs to form a special investigation task group, we will do that,” Bartolome said.
“Just like any other crime incident, there should be added attention as it involves a high official. Our police should pay added attention to the case,” he said.
– With Cecille Suerte Felipe - By Sandy Araneta and Reinir Padua (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
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