A member of the NBI fornensic team examines one of the bullet riddled SUV at the Municipal Police Station in Atimonan, Quezon where 13 people were killed in an alleged ‘shootout’ with police and military at a checkpoint last January 6.INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said he has a potential witness that may bolster suspicions that the Quezon shooting last January 6 was “planned” or a “conspiracy.”
The potential witness, Escudero said, is a fellow Bicolano, who was among the motorists stopped at a checkpoint before the checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon where the shooting that left 13 people dead occurred.
“Kinumbinsi kong tumestigo yung isa sa aming kababayan sa Sorsogon dahil [nabalitaan kong] pauwi daw sya ng Maynila at may isa pa palang checkpoint bago yung checkpoint na yun sa Atimonan. Pinigilan sila doon at ang haba na raw ng pila ng traffic doon sa isang checkpoint na yun,” the senator said during a regular forum in the Senate on Thursday.
(I convinced our province mate in Sorsogon to testify when I learned he passed through checkpoints in Atimonan, Quezon on his way home to Manila and he said there was a long line of vehicles at the first checkpoint.)
“Hindi pinapatuloy bago yung insidente at nakarinig sila ng putukan at umabot pa yata ng 30 minutes bago sila payagang tumuloy,” Escudero added.
(The motorists were stopped and soon they heard successive gunfire that could have lasted for 30 minutes. Then they were allowed to go.)
“Pagpapakita na parang may sabwatan o alam nilang may gagawin kung kaya’t ayaw nilang madamay ang ibang sibilyan,” he said.
(This shows there was a conspiracy or they knew there will be an operation and they don’t want other civilians to be in harm’s way.)
The incident, Escudero said, reminded him of the same stories in 1970s where rebel groups in Bicol before staging an ambush would put a blockade on the road and would say: “Ambush is going on.”
This is being done, he said, to avoid civilian casualties.
Escudero said he has already informed the National Bureau of Investigation about this and he hopes that the NBI would look into this angle.
“Dapat tingnan ng NBI itong anggulong ito dahil kung totoo yun, talagang mukhang may conspiracy at plano na gawin maaga palang o bago pa man,” he further said.
(The NBI should look into this angle because if this were true, it would appear there’s a conspiracy and a plan to implement it early.)