Razon, Barias surrender to Sandiganbayan

Former PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Two former Philippine National Police officials who have been charged with graft and malversation by the Sandiganbayan have surrendered, according to radio reports.

The reports said former PNP Chief Avelino Razon and former PNP comptroller Geary Barias went together to the Sandiganbayan office in Quezon City on Wednesday to voluntarily surrender.

Other reports said Razon showed up at the Sandiganbayan to also post P30,000 bail for each count of the four charges against him.

Later in the day, the former national police chief who was credited for the surveillance and arrest of a suspect in an assassination plot on Pope John Paul II during his Manila visit in 1995, along with several other respondents,  arrived at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City where he is set to be detained.

The Sandiganbayan earlier issued an arrest warrant against Razon and Barias and 31 others over the fictitious repair and maintenance of 28 units of V-150 PNP Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) worth P358.48 million in 2007.

Aside from Razon, five other former police officials were charged in the Sandiganbyan: former PNP comptrollers Eliseo de la Paz; former PNP National Headquarters-Bids and Awards Committee chair Reynaldo P. Varilla and vice chair Charlemagne S. Alejandrino; and former Logistics Support Service (LSS) Director Teodorico R. Lapuz IV.

The Ombudsman indicted 11 other police officials: Victor G. Agarcio, Emmanuel Ojeda and Reuel Leverne B. Labrado; Superintendents Rainier A. Espina; Warlito T. Tubon, Henry Y. Duque, Edgar B. Paatan; Josefina B. Dumanew; Analee R. Forro; Victor M. Puddao and Alfredo M. Laviña.

Also charged were six PNP employees—Antonio Retrato, Eulito T. Fuentes, Patricia Enaje, Maria Teresa Narcise, Nancy Basallo and Alex R. Barrameda.

Charges were brought against 10 private individuals from the suppliers: Artemio B. Zuñiga, Gigie Marpa, Marianne Jimenez, Oscar Madamba, Carmencita Salvador, Rasita Zaballero, Harold and Tyrone Ong, Pamela Pensotes and Evangeline Bais.

In a press conference at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Police Chief Superintendent Frank Uyami Jr., PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief, said it would be better for subjects of the warrant to just turn themselves in, considering their knowledge (as police officers) on how a suspect is hunted by authorities.

Uyami said the suspects can be detained at Camp Crame’s Custodial Center, but noted that it would be the court, which will determine where they will really be held.

For his part, Police Senior Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP-Public Information Office chief, assured the public that Razon will not be given any special treatment despite the fact that he was a former PNP chief.

Originally posted at 4:49 p.m.