LAWYER Homobono Adaza turned the tables on
the Philippine National Police and a Department of Justice
prosecutor yesterday as he filed criminal and administrative
complaints against them before the Office of the Ombudsman.
In his 10-page complaint, Adaza dismissed as
"a complete lie" accusations implicating him in an alleged coup
plot against the Arroyo government.
Named principal respondents in the complaint
were PNP Director General Avelino Razon; Criminal Investigation
and Detection Group director Raul Castañeda; Senior Supts.
Benito Estipona and Asher Dolina and Supts. Rene Ong and Jacinto
Malinao of CIDG; lawyer Raymund Fortun; and senior state
prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco.
Adaza sought their indictment for alleged
violations of anti-wiretapping law, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practices Act (RA 3019), the Code of Conduct and Ethical
Standards for Government Officials and Employees (RA 6713), and
Arbitrary Detention and Delay in the Delivery of Detained
Persons to the Proper Judicial Authorities.
Adaza filed the complaint in relation to his
arrest last July 2 along with former military Colonels Oscarlito
Mapalo, Edgardo Amboy, Cesar dela Peña, and former police Supt.
Rafael Cardeño at a hotel in Ortigas Center based on Fortuns
complaint that the group tried to extort some $4 million from
his Japanese client, supposedly to finance a coup against the
government.
A fourth suspect, former Col. Edgardo Tapia,
remains at large.
Razon welcomed Adaza's counter-charges,
saying this will give the police a better chance to air its side
in a proper forum and to prove that Adaza's arrest was legal and
with a cause. At the same time, he admitted that he did not
expect Adaza's move.
"What we want to say is that the violator of
the law, the one who committed an offense is Atty. Homobono
Adaza. We were just enforcing the law. There was a complainant
and we filed charges against him (and his four cohorts). If we
are to be charged for enforcing the law, so be it," Razon said.
Adaza and company, who were charged before
the Department of Justice, were allowed to post bail except for
Cardeño who was brought to the Las Piñas RTC where he is wanted
for the murder in 2001 of self-styled Young Officers Union
spokesman Baron Cervantes.
Adaza said the charges against him are part of a grand design
by the Arroyo government to pin him down for lawyering for
people known to be anti-administration. - Peter Tabingo,
Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
