Ex-gov accuses NBI agents of trespassing and theft

MANILA, Philippines – A former Agusan del Sur politician who is now a mining company executive asked the Department of Justice on  Friday to prosecute two National Bureau of Investigation agents for resorting to illegal means to obtain evidence for a case filed by another mining company.

Lawyer Ceferino Paredes Jr., a former Agusan del Sur governor and congressman in the 1990s who is now a director and senior legal adviser of Platinum Group Metals Corp., claimed that NBI special investigators Gregory Yu and Edgar Paul Panlaqui committed trespassing and qualified theft in their investigation of the complaint of Case Mining and Development Corp.

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PGMC currently operates the mineral claims of CMDC in Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao del Norte following an agreement signed in 1992. However, the two companies had a dispute over royalty payments which Paredes said was at the root of the case.

“The filing of these charges is nothing short of malicious prosecution, loosely orchestrated by complainants to harass [us] in order to force the collection of what complainants claim to be the proper amount of royalty payments from PGMC, [an] issue [that] is supposed to be threshed out in an arbitration proceeding pursuant to the agreement between the PGMC and the CMDC,” Paredes said in his nine-page counter-affidivafit.

Paredes claimed that Yu and Panlaqui, in their effort to obtain evidence, trespassed the firm’s mining site in Cagdiano in Claver and took pictures and videos without permission. The two agents also somehow got hold of confidential maps from the PGMC.

Paredes accused the two agents of conspiring with CMDC in filing the cases of violations of the Philippine Mining Act and Philippine Water Act against him and other PGMC officials.

“The taking of such pictures and video inside PGMC’s premises without PGMC’s consent is akin to unreasonable search, and therefore such pictures and footage are fruits of a poisonous tree and are inadmissible in evidence. The maps are are likewise inadmissible as they were also fruits of a poisonous tree,” Paredes said.

He also pointed out that the case against him and other PGMC executives were being investigated at a time when President Aquino himself has expressed doubts about the integrity of some people in the NBI.

Yu and Panlaqui “have used their powers, skills and ability to brazenly commit illegal acts against PGMC to aid and conspire with CMDC. I cannot help but join the President’s doubts and suspicion over the lack of integrity of some of the agents and officers of NBI, especially the likes of NBI agents Yu and Panlaqui,” Paredes said.

The DOJ case was initiated through a letter dated May 23 signed by NBI deputy director Ruel Lasala on behalf of complainants Argel Joseph Cabatbat, representing the CMDC, and the NBI-Environment and Wildlife Protection Investigation Division.

Cabatbat sought the NBI’s assistance last March in investigating alleged illegal mining operations and possible violations of environmental laws by the PGMC.

Paredes described the accusations as “baseless” and “obviously frivolous, if not ridiculous.” The other PGMC officials, in their counteraffidavits, said the company had complied with regulations and obtained the proper permits.

Paredes also called on the DOJ not to waste its time by involving itself in what is “essentially a private dispute” between the two mining firms.

He said the publicity over the case had destroyed his family’s reputation and taken a toll on his health as he was still recovering from a stroke and had to travel to Manila several times just to deal with the suit.

The PGMC executives were accused, among others, of failing to obtain ore transport permits, register its mineral trading activities, obtain an environmental clearance certificate, rehabilitate mined out areas, remit proper taxes and government share, as well as of illegally cutting trees and polluting bodies of water through mining discharges.

Aside from Paredes, other respondents in the case were PGMC president Lin Ou Wen; vice president Joseph Sy; vice chair Rafael Atayde; directors Lin Zheng, Lin Qing Ping and Lin Hui; and incorporators Dante Bravo, Cymbelly Delos Santos and Mindy Guevarra.

The Cagdianao mining sites operated by PGMC and other companies were attacked by the communist New People’s Army in October 2011. The rebels burned and destroyed 18 trucks and mining equipment worth more than P2 billion and took the firearms and communication gadgets of security and office personnel.