ICPO probes police link in grenade explosion at Carlos’
SHOULD police investigators run after their fellow policemen to solve the grenade explosion at the bakeshop owned by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas?
Yesterday, a text message was circulated identifying two policemen who are perceived to be allied to Treñas’ political nemesis, the Gonzalezes, as the suspects behind the grenade lobbing incident at Carlos’ Bakeshop and Cafe.
The text message reads: “Identified na ang motor nga XR nga pula kag may puti nga pinta sa kilid. PNP property nga ginagamit ni P/CI Amiyong. Ang kudal nga tinago-an sang motor sang kaagahon balay sang utod ni Refugio. Bal-an na ni tanan sang R2 kag sang ICPO pero daw wala lang kay bal-an nila sin-o ang padrino pero kulba-an PNP.”
The P/CI Amiyong is deemed to be Chief Insp. Musa Amiyong, the deputy chief of the Iloilo City Public Safety Management Company, while Refugio was theorized to be PO1 Ronnie Refugio, one of the security details of former Justice Secretary and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez, Sr.
Refugio was also charged administratively and criminally for issuing threats on Treñas’ four children last January 2010.
When asked about the said possibility, Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) director Senior Supt. Melvin Mongcal said that he immediately conferred with the members of the case tracker teams after getting the said information.
The team is composed of ICPO personnel, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the PNP Crime Laboratory VI, and the Explosives Ordnance Division (EOD) team.
“We are validating that information on our case conference,” Mongcal said.
But amid all these accusations, the city police chief said that he would not personally call on Amiyong or Refugio. Instead, he wanted his two subordinate policemen to appear before the other members of the case tracker team.
Even before the text messages circulated, Mongcal admitted that it is one of the angles that they are looking into.
Prior to this, Treñas already declared that he saw no other reason except political harassment behind the said incident.
At around 2:40 a.m. of Monday, a grenade ripped through his family-owned bakeshop, which is adjacent to his house.
It also injured the establishment’s duty security guard.