Calabarzon cop chief insists Atimonan operation legitimate

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna—The top police official in southern Luzon on Monday insisted that the police operation in Atimonan town, Quezon province, that led to the killing of 13 alleged criminals on Jan. 6 was legitimate despite an initial finding by police investigators that use of excessive force led to so many deaths.

“As far as I am concerned, it was an accomplishment unless proven otherwise,” said Chief Supt. James Melad, director of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police.

Melad signed the proposal for the police operation, called “Coplan Armado,” together with Supt. Hansel Marantan, chief of intelligence, and Supt. Glenn Dumlao, head of the Regional Public Safety Battalion, of the Calabarzon police.

Melad, however, declined to comment further on the Jan. 6 carnage after President Aquino instructed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to stop issuing statements about the supposed shootout.

But in his speech to regional police officials, Melad said the controversies surrounding the Atimonan case “should not dampen our resolve to work.”

A top police official, who declined to be identified because of the gag order from Malacañang, said police officials in the region were frustrated at the turn of events.

“Who wouldn’t be demoralized when you get charged, you get relieved, and your honor is at stake. These people risked their careers,” the official said, referring to Marantan and the other policemen involved in the Atimonan operation.

Marantan was the only one wounded among the 41 policemen and Army Special Forces who manned the checkpoint along a stretch of Maharlika Highway in Barangay (village) Lumutan, Atimonan town, where the supposed shootout happened.

P.3M for operation

“Coplan Armado” was submitted to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) for approval and funding of P300,000, but was disapproved.

Another source with knowledge of the coplan (case operational plan) claimed the PAOCC only denied the request after the incident became a big issue.

“The request was being processed when the Atimonan case broke out,” the source said.

He said the contents of the plan were discussed in a case conference that included top police officials at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame on Jan. 3.

Impact

“They (in the national headquarters) were telling us that there should be an impact. There’s the impact,” the source said, referring to the fall of alleged illegal gambling operator Victor “Vic” Siman in Atimonan.

The first source supported an earlier statement made by Dumlao that “Coplan Armado” would have proceeded with or without the PAOCC.

He said the checkpoint was in fact “hastily set up based on a human intelligence” that Siman’s group was about to pass through the area.

“Were they (Marantan’s group) supposed to stop and say,  ‘Hey, let’s have this approved first,’ when the target was already there?” he said.

Siman was the alleged operator of the numbers racket “jueteng” in southern Luzon. He was the lone target of “Coplan Armado.”

But sources in the police and illegal gambling industry in the region claimed that Marantan’s sister operated a rival gambling syndicate, prompting reports that the operation was actually an ambush to eliminate Siman.

The characters of Marantan and Dumlao were also questioned due to their involvement in previous cases of alleged summary executions.

“[Marantan] and [Dumlao] already have a grip on the underworld. It is as if we are saying that a prostitute could not file a case of rape,” the official said.

No final report yet

“I do not know how they could have come up with a conclusion when the information is still incomplete,” the first source said, adding that the Calabarzon police had not received a copy of the final report of the fact-finding committee as of Monday.

“How could they also say that the guns were planted when the guns were registered under the names (of the fatalities). Now what, the guns were stolen from those peoples’ homes and each placed beside the body? That’s just illogical,” the source said.

The official insisted that the first shot was fired from the group of Siman, prompting the team of Marantan to fire back.

“We dignify these people, but do we ask how they were grouped together? An environmentalist who joined a mining operation? A police official with a gambling lord?” the source said.

Conflict of interest

Among the fatalities were Tirso Lontok Jr., whose family said he was an environmentalist, and Supt. Alfredo Consemino, acting group director of the Regional Headquarters Support Group (RHSG) in the Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) police, who was said to be a business partner of Siman in a security agency.

“Then it’s a conflict of interest. [Consemino] was in the service and yet he was engaged in a security agency. And why were these Air Force personnel there? Did they have mission orders? How come no mission order or letters of order (to carry firearms) outside their area of responsibility were recovered from their personal belongings?” the source said, referring to three soldiers among those killed.

He said Consemino, who was on New Year’s break when he traveled with Siman’s group, carried a gun issued by the PNP Directorate for Logistics in Camp Crame.