Newsman links attacker to Pasig cops

MANILA, Philippines–Connect  the dots.

Finally breaking his silence after his March 11 shooting, journalist Fernan Angeles said he was ambushed by a group of men led by an alleged drug dealer “14 hours” after he alerted the chief of the Eastern Police District (EPD) about the suspect’s dealings with some Pasig City police officers.

Angeles, a Daily Tribune reporter currently assigned to the Palace, e-mailed a statement to the Malacañang Press Corps on Wednesday, 10 days after he was shot seven times near his Pasig residence.

Fourteen hours before the attack that Sunday night, the reporter said, he sent a text message to EPD Director Chief Supt. Francisco Manalo detailing how the Pasig City police had “just arrested” one Faisal Sancopan and confiscated half a kilo of shabu, two guns and P850 in cash from the latter.

In his message to Manalo, he also said Faisal was supposedly made “to pay P500,000 for his freedom” and “to help the cops turn the seized drugs into cash.”

“I was shot by a group of men led by the very subject I reported to him (Manalo). Interesting how that very subject, Faisal, traced the lead of such information,” Angeles said in his statement.

Angeles said he texted Manalo that day to get the EDP chief’s reaction to information linking the members of the EPD and Pasig police to the drug trade.

“I was hoping to get a reaction or at least a clarification on where they could start moving (against those involved). Instead, I got a reply saying ‘tnx4 d info,’” he said.

Angeles said his text message was apparently “used as an instrument by a high profile police officer in trying to recover what looks like his share from the huge loot that his cops took from Faisal.”

On Saturday, the Pasig City police initially announced the arrest of Faisal but later clarified that the man surrendered to clear his name.

On the night he was shot, Angeles was able to whisper the name of Faisal to his wife Gemma before losing consciousness at the hospital, according to investigators.

Sought for comment, Manalo confirmed receiving a text message from Angeles prior to the shooting, “but I was already retired at that time. In fact, that afternoon, I was on my way to Pangasinan,” Manalo told the Inquirer on the phone.

“I thanked him for the information and then I forwarded it to the Pasig police chief (Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona),” Manalo said.

He said he then asked Cardona to verify the information and act with dispatch.

“If he (Angeles) is talking about a ‘high police official’ (in his statement), I don’t know about that,” Manalo added.

EPD deputy director Senior Supt. Antonio Gumiran said “we are trying to talk to General Manalo and the Pasig police about that message,” Gumiran said.

“We have only one request to him (Angeles): Please give us names. Don’t just say a certain official because there are so many of us here and we are all being dragged into this,” Gumiran said.

As to the reported pending warrant for his arrest in connection to a 2011 drug possession case, Angeles said, “they should have arrested me long ago if that were true.”

“That cheap trick must have been related to the older columns I wrote for the defunct Philippine Gazette and Opinion on how dirty the Pasig PNP is,” Angeles said.

Angeles said he e-mailed the press corps hours before his scheduled surgery on Wednesday. The operation would be on his left lung which was hit during the March 11 attack.

“I’ve already accepted the fact that I may  no longer be able to walk, or hold something using my right arm. To me, sending this e-mail is already a bonus,” he said.