Comelec asked to stop CIDG from probing Abra politicians
BAGUIO CITY — Abra’s highest-ranking officials on Thursday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) from investigating local politicians and their supporters during the midterm elections, pointing out that it was led by the husband of congressional candidate Victoria Seares-Corpus.
The national director of the CIDG is Police Maj. Gen. Amador Corpus.
“It is not a far stretch of the imagination to arrive at the conclusion that the CIDG is being used for political ends” because it is supervised by Amador Corpus, Abra Rep. Joseph Sto. Niño Bernos and his sister-in-law, Abra Gov. Maria Jocelyn Valera-Bernos, both seeking reelection, said in a complaint transmitted to the office of Comelec Chair Sheriff Abas.
They said CIDG Abra had displayed “undue bias” and must be issued a cease-and-desist order by the Comelec.
Citing the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation Manual, the Abra officials said the municipal police had primary jurisdiction over recent cases of gun violence and harassment. “Despite that, the office of CIDG Abra is dipping its hands in matters already beyond its jurisdiction,” they claimed.
‘They blew it’
CIDG Abra has yet to comment on the complaint. But in her social media account, Victoria Corpus said she had been falsely accused of using the police’s investigation unit against her rivals. “We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve the people well through good governance but they blew it by serving themselves,” she said.
According to the Bernoses, CIDG documents were used by two suspects to file countercharges against a village councilor and his companion whom they allegedly ambushed in Lagayan town in January.
In Lagayan on April 18, a man who identified himself as a CIDG official accosted the lawyer of a group of youths who was attacked by armed men allegedly led by village chief Dominador Cardenas. The gun attack killed one of the youths and injured another, according to the complaint.
On April 23 in Tayum town, 10 members of the CIDG allegedly conducted a separate inquiry into a gunfight between supporters of mayoral candidate Jose Mari Brillantes and village chief Walter Tugadi, in which two people were hurt. The gunfight was being investigated by the Tayum police but the CIDG requested pertinent documents.
On April 26, CIDG personnel were present when police searched a vehicle linked to the gun battle. The vehicle held assault weapons and was traced to the secretary of the Lagayan town council.
Representative Bernos told the Comelec that he had received two letters and photographs, dated April 26 and 29, corroborating the events in Lagayan and Tayum.
On April 29, CIDG personnel were allegedly spotted when four vehicles blocked the venue of a gathering of Governor Bernos’ supporters at Barangay Laang in Lagangilang town. In a separate affidavit, the governor claimed that her rival was in one of the vehicles carrying armed men.
Hot spot
In a separate complaint filed on April 20 in the office of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, La Paz municipal employee Nicasio Turqueza sought an inquiry into the activities of the CIDG, claiming that one of its personnel had been protecting Victoria Corpus during her campaign sorties.
Despite his wife’s candidacy, Amador Corpus was not part of the routine police reshuffle for the elections. On Wednesday, Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde, the PNP chief, said he was convinced that Amador Corpus would not meddle in the Abra elections.
Abra has been notorious for political violence involving the private armed groups of certain political clans. In 2005, the government replaced Abra’s police force after it was discovered that some cops had been moonlighting as bodyguards of politicians.
In 2006, Governor Bernos’ husband, then La Paz Mayor Marc Ysrael Bernos, was assassinated.
In the same year, Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin, a brother of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, was murdered in Quezon City. Former Abra Gov. Vicente Valera was convicted of the crime in 2015.
Abra was no longer an area of concern during the 2013 midterm polls and the 2016 presidential election due to reduced crime rates. But it was reclassified a hot spot during the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections because of a grenade attack at a La Paz fiesta which killed policemen and injured scores of people, including Representative Bernos and his wife, La Paz Mayor Menchie Bernos.
