Twist in Tribune reporter’s case: Cops say he has arrest warrant

MANILA, Philippines—In a surprising twist, the Daily Tribune reporter who was shot and wounded on Sunday night in Pasig City might end up being arrested first ahead of his assailant.

The Eastern Police District, which earlier vowed to cover “all angles” to pin down the attacker of journalist Fernan Angeles, on Wednesday released copies of an arrest warrant against one “Fernando Javier Angeles” in connection with a 2011 drug possession case pending before the Pasig Regional Trial Court.

“The person in the warrant and the one at the hospital (the Tribune reporter) are one and the same,” Superintendent Ganaban Ali, public information chief of the Eastern Police District, said in a press briefing.

“As SOP [standard operating procedure], the warrant will be served once (Angeles’) condition at the hospital becomes stable,” Ali said.

He said Task Force Angeles found out that Fernan Jose Angeles and Fernando Javier Angeles are one and the same person.

Asked why the EPD had dug up the warrant, Ali could not give a straight answer, noting that the investigators looking into Angeles’ shooting were not available for the briefing.

Reached later on the phone, the EPD director, Senior Supt. Mario Soriano, said the warrant was being considered as one of the clues that may establish the motive and the suspects behind the shooting.

“It’s our job to find as much information as possible about the victim to be able to know who would want him killed,” Soriano said. “With the warrant, we can go deeper about Angeles’ involvement in the drug trade.”

The arrest warrant for criminal case No. 17525-D was issued by Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes of the Pasig RTC-Branch 154 on July 12, 2011. Ali said investigators came across the document in their background check on the victim.

It turned out, he said, that Angeles was arrested on Feb. 28, 2011, for alleged possession of an unspecified amount of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu, in a police operation in Barangay (village) Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, where he also resides.

Angeles then posted bail but the court again ordered his arrest five months later for his failure to attend the hearings.

In Malacañang, where Angeles is currently assigned, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the police were just “looking at all leads” when it took note of the warrant. He appealed to other reporters “not to be judgmental on the police.”

Angeles’ wife Gemma didn’t answer calls or text messages from the Inquirer. A radio report quoted her as saying that, as far as she knows, her husband would have only faced libel cases and would have had nothing to do with the drug case cited in the warrant.

The Inquirer also learned on Tuesday that Angeles managed to whisper the name of a certain “Faisal” to his wife before losing consciousness at the hospital after Sunday’s shooting. Faisal was allegedly a known drug user in the victim’s neighborhood.

Senior Supt. Antonio Gumiran, EPD’s deputy director for operations, said he would ask the Pasig City General Hospital to conduct a drug test on the reporter.—With a report from Christine Avendaño of the PDI and Jamie Marie Elona of INQUIRER.net

Originally posted at 06:02 pm | Wednesday, March 14,  2012