NBI agents in hot water
President Noy showed how unpresidential and unstatesmanlike he can be when he lambasted Chief Justice Renato Corona at the first National Criminal Justice Summit on Monday.
The tirade against the Chief Justice, in the presence of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Sonny Belmonte, lasted about 10 minutes.
Corona put on a poker face during the intense personal affront at the summit that was attended by officials of agencies in the criminal justice system.
The President chose a venue where he was expected to be hospitable because the summit was sponsored by the Department of Justice.
This is a plain case of rudeness.
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The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disobeyed orders from Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to turn over a Japanese woman in its custody to the Bureau of Immigration.
Noriyo Ohara, 32, was arrested by NBI agents in Pangasinan province for being an undocumented alien.
The NBI arrogated unto itself what is clearly the job of the immigration bureau.
I reported the illegal detention of Ohara by the NBI to Justice Secretary De Lima last Friday.
She immediately ordered the NBI to turn over Ohara to the immigration bureau.
But instead of complying with the order from the justice secretary, their big boss, the NBI took Ohara to the Japanese embassy on Monday.
When I pointed out to De Lima the apparent act of insubordination in a text message, her reply was: “She’s (Ohara) with the Japanese embassy now. They’re requesting that she stay with them pending investigation, citing security reasons. I’ll decide on that (insubordination) tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow” is today (Tuesday).
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The NBI arrested Ohara in Pangasinan on Oct. 29, 2011, or one month and eight days ago today.
“Kidnapped”—instead of “arrested”—is the right term because Ohara never committed a crime in the country, except for being an undocumented alien.
I checked on her record in Japan and found out that she is not a fugitive in her country.
Her foster family, the Marzans of Bugallon town, said she escaped to the
Philippines because the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, was going to kill her next after they killed her father.
Ohara—after more than a month in detention by the NBI—has apparently been afflicted with the Stockholm Syndrome, a situation where a kidnap victim sympathizes with his or her kidnappers.
The NBI has made up a story that Ohara sought its help to escape from the Marzans.
Crazy!
How could Ohara have asked the NBI to rescue her from the Marzans when she was forcibly taken away from her foster family?
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I have pieces of evidence that the NBI received money from the Marzan family for Ohara’s release.
The evidence consists of transactions with a money changer shop in Ermita where the Marzans converted Japanese yen into pesos.
I also have affidavits filed by some members of the Marzan clan that they handed money over to NBI agents at the NBI headquarters.
The sworn statements were made at the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response office in Camp Crame where I brought the Marzans.
As far as I’m concerned, the kidnapping case against the NBI agents is airtight.
