Ronaldo Aquino —PHOTO FROM CALBAYOG CITY INFORMATION OFFICE FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA, Philippines — A political rival of slain Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino allegedly tried to implicate him as a protector of a policeman supposedly involved in drugs, a witness at a Senate hearing said Wednesday.
Police Master Sergeant Jose Jay Senario, an intel operative in Calbayog City when Aquino was killed in March, claimed that Raymundo Uy tasked him to produce an affidavit stating that Aquino was a protector of a policeman who was allegedly involved in the drug trade.
“May instance doon na may isang politician na pinagawa ako ng isang affidavit. Sabi sa akin doon, kumuha ka ng isang asset, pagawan mo ng isang affidavit. Kasi si Mayor Aquino mayroon siyang isang pulis doon na naging escort na sinasabi nila na alleged na involved sa drugs,” Senario told the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
(There was an instance that a politician tasked me to create an affidavit. I was told to get an asset to write an affidavit. They say Mayor Aquino had a police escort who was allegedly involved in drugs.)
“So ang pinagawa sa akin, gumawa ako ng isang affidavit, implicating doon sa pulis na sinasabi doon na si Mayor Aquino is protector sa pulis na ‘yun,” he added.
(So I was ordered to create an affidavit implicating that Mayor Aquino was a protector of that policeman.)
Senario said a copy of the affidavit was then forwarded to Col. Nicholas Torre III, who was provincial director of Samar during that time.
“Noong naibigay na ‘yung papel, sinabi, wag muna ‘yan, sabi ni PD (provincial director), mayroon pang ibang plano. Hindi ko na alam ano na ‘yung sumunod na plano,” he added.
(When the document was given to him, he said to not push through with it yet because there is another plan. I did not know what that next plan was.)
Samar 1st District Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento then asked Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, chair of the Senate committee, to let Senario disclose the name of the politician he was referring to.
Senario was reluctant at first, but later said he was referring to Uy.
“‘Yung mayor na ‘yun is karibal kasi ‘yun ni Mayor Aquino, si Monmon Uy, Raymundo,” he said.
(That mayor was a rival of Mayor Aquino. He is Monmon Uy. Raymundo.)
Sarmiento said Uy previously ran for mayor but lost to Aquino.
According to Senario, it was Capt. Joselito Tabada, chief of the Samar Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit who was one of those killed in the March shootout, who asked him in 2018 to create documents for the application of search warrant for Aquino.
“Two options ang ibinigay sa akin. It’s either to apply for search warrant or i-ambush na lang si Mayor Aquino,” he said.
(I was given two options. It’s either to apply for search warrant or to ambush Mayor Aquino.)
The search warrant, however, did not materialize as Torre was already transferred to another post in January 2019, according to Senario.
Anti-narcotics officials said during the hearing that Aquino was not on the drugs watchlist.
Dela Rosa said his committee will invite the personalities mentioned by Senario in the next hearing on the incident so they can give their side.
Complaints for homicide and frustrated homicide were filed last April against the policemen who figured in a shootout with the camp of Aquino, which led to his death and of five others.
A separate case for murder was filed against Ronald Mark Aquino, son of the mayor, and others for allegedly firing at the cops who clashed with the local chief executive. The younger Aquino, however, denied involvement in the incident.