Tracker files libel raps

An anti-crime volunteer in Cebu City filed libel charges against a police official and three newspaper journalists for linking him to the fatal mauling of a robbery suspect.

Rafael Enriquez filed his complaint with the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

Named respondents in the complaint are Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, head of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Cebu City Police Office; news correspondents Chito Aragon and Andrea Pateña, and Eileen Mangubat, publisher and acting editor in chief of Cebu Daily News.

Mangubat said the complaint will be referred to the paper’s legal counsel and will be answered in the proper forum.

“So far, CDN news stories of the violent death of a robbery suspect in the Fuente police precinct have been based on interviews of police officials, the victim’s family, and sworn statements of witnesses who are members of the Trackers,” she said.

Enriquez said he was identified as a suspect in the mauling and death of Joven Tejano in CDN’s July 12 new report “Family of slain theft suspect seeks justice.”

Enriquez was first named by Chief Insp. Garciano of the IDMB in the article.

But Enriquez, in his complaint, said his name was not mentioned in the complaint later filed by the sister of the mauling victim.

“After I read the subject news item, I was greatly shocked and ashamed as my reputation has been seriously damaged,” he said.

He also complained about a July 15 report “Ex-army soldier faces raps for suspect’s death” where he was identified by Chief Insp. Garciano as one of the members of Trackers who executed an affidavit against Pedro Pianar Jr., the main suspect in the mauling incident.

Enriquez said he never identified Pianar as the person who mauled the victim.

Pianar, a member of the Trackers, disappeared after the July 7 mauling.

Murder charges were filed against him by the police. The Fuente police station chief, Insp. Michael Bastes, who organized the Trackers a few years ago, was relieved from his post and the anti-crime volunteers group disbanded.

Enriquez said he was an “active church lector” at the Redemptorist Church in Cebu City for over 10 years and executive vice president of JCI Cebu Sinulog Inc. He said his credibility as a church servant was tainted due to the “baseless accusations.”

He said the reports prompted his subordinates at JCI Sinulog Inc. to doubt his leadership.

Tejano, who was picked up on suspicion that he was the one who burglarized a house, was brought by the Trackers to the Fuente police station where he was interrogated.

Tejano was found unconscious in his cell hours later.

He died shortly after in a hospital. An autopsy showed he had severe injuries, including broken ribs, and signs of physical trauma all over his body.

Bastes and seven other Fuente policemen are facing admnistrative charges over the incident.

Police filed murder charges against Pianar based on accounts of fellow Tracker members in a sworn statement.