NBI official survives ambush in Manila

MANILA, Philippines—Motorcycle-riding gunmen ambushed and wounded Tuesday evening Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and his companion in Manila.

Initial reports from the Manila Police District’s (MPD) Ermita Station 5 stated that two men aboard a motorcycle blocked and fired at the vehicle of Esmeralda, who is deputy director for technical services at around 7:15 p.m., as the sports utility vehicle maneuvered toward Apacible Street in Paco, from Taft Avenue.

Both casualties were taken to the Manila Doctors Hospital for treatment.

NBI deputy director for intelligence services and lawyer Ruel Lasala assured the Inquirer that his colleague was out of danger and confirmed that Esmeralda’s companion was wounded too.

Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan said over the phone that he was able to talk to Esmeralda and that he was OK, adding that Esmeralda was only grazed by a bullet.

“We are all being extra-careful because all of us are receiving threats,” Baraan said, attributing the shooting to an investigation they were conducting on the kidnapping and extortion charges filed by Noriyo Ohara, a Japanese national, against NBI officials, including former NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula.

“I have been receiving unusual messages as well,” Baraan, head of the investigating panel that recommended the filing of criminal case against Gatdula.

“We have to be extra-careful now,” Baraan said.

Lasala said that Esmeralda and his two companions were on their way home from the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue when the incident happened.

The attack happened a day after the former head of the bureau, lawyer Magtanggol Gatdula, was able to secure from a local court a preliminary injunction on the justice department’s investigation on his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of and extortion from Japanese national Noriyo Ohara.

Originally posted: 8:06 pm | Tuesday, February 21st, 2012