Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa (File photo by Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Two suspects in the fatal ambush attack against Aparri Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda have refused to take a lie detector test.
Dennis de Guzman and Freddie Molina expressed their resistance to the procedure during the Senate committee hearing on public order and dangerous drugs on Tuesday.
They are bodyguards of Aparri Mayor Bryan Chan.
Rommel Paltao, also a bodyguard of Chan, appeared in the proceeding as well.
He also declined to undergo the test.
Their refusal to undergo a polygraph test made Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa wonder.
In a previous hearing, the three had volunteered to be subjected to the tests.
The senator explained to De Guzman the implication of his action.
“Yung ginagawa mong ‘yan, lalong magdududa ang taong bayan sa yo na may tinatago ka talaga [o] may kinalaman ka talaga sa krimen na ito dahil ayaw mong magpa-lie detector. Nag volunteer ka [noon]. Tapos, binabawi mo na,” dela Rosa recalled.
(With what you are doing, the more the public will suspect that you are hiding something or involved in the crime because you do not want to go through a lie detector. You had volunteered before. Now, you are withdrawing from it.)
“Anyway, it’s your right,” the lawmaker relented.
“We respect your right, pero iba ang dating sa committee na ito,” he reminded the suspect.
(We respect your right, but it sends a different message to this committee.)
The three men said their lawyers instructed them to decline the procedure.
De Guzman and Molina were earlier identified by Philippine National Police – Special Investigation Task Group (PNP SITG) as persons of interest after it found information that linked the two suspects to the crime.
“Lumabas sa ginawa naming diagram na lumabas na naka-link ang mga tao [ni Mayor]. Naka-link lahat,” said Police Master Sergeant Nicolas Respicio Jr. who investigated the case.
(The diagram we made showed that [Mayor Chan’s] people were all linked [to the Vice Mayor]. All of them were linked.)
“Based sa initial investigation na ginawa ng SITG, nagsimula kasi kami sa sasakyan o sa ginamit nilang getaway vehicle. Doon na lumabas yung link ng bawat isa sa kanila, kaya lumabas silang persons of interest,” he explained.
(Based on the initial investigation by SITG, we began with the vehicle or the one used as the getaway vehicle. That is where the link to each of them appeared, which is why they became persons of interest.)
Mayor Chan is facing graft and corruption cases at the Ombudsman.
He did not reportedly want then-vice mayor Alameda to sit as acting mayor in case the Ombudsman would hand down a suspension order.
Alameda was gunned down by unidentified men dressed in police uniforms on February 19, 2023.
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