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SCMP Reporter

If the Kuratong Baleleng case was once a mound of soil, say Filipinos, it is now a mountain. Almost two years since 11 members of a robbery gang were allegedly summarily executed by the Philippine National Police (PNP), allegations of whitewash, conspiracies and shady deals abound. And still the case has not reached court.

  It was on May 18, 1995 that 11 members of the so-called Kuratong Baleleng crime syndicate were killed in what police described as a 'gun battle' in suburban Quezon City at dawn.

  PNP director-general Recaredo Sarmiento said police had intercepted the gang as they made their way to a safe house.

  One of those killed was 14-year-old Melio Bren Sorronda. Another was a former officer of the PNP's own Criminal Investigation Group.

  The police, incredibly, sustained no injuries.

  The public celebrated the demise of one of Manila's most notorious gangs. The Kuratong Baleleng had robbed five banks in 1995, stealing millions of US dollars.

  They had also staged a brazen hold-up at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, under the noses of security guards and airport police officers. Gang members stopped an armoured cash van and got away with US$2 million (HK$15.48 million).

  When they were caught and gunned down, even President Fidel Ramos joined the celebrations. He told reporters: 'This is victory for our security forces.'   Four days later the celebrations came to an abrupt halt. Special Police Officer Eduardo de los Reyes, who had been in charge of gathering evidence at the house where the gang was first arrested, said no shootout had taken place between gang and police.

  The gang members, he said, had been bundled into a van and murdered by the police in a 'rubout' - the Filipino term for summary execution - facilitated by the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, the PNP's Traffic Management Command, Central Police District Command and Criminal Investigation Command.

  Mr Ramos' assertions that the security forces had triumphed began to look shaky.

  Public and media outcry resulted in swift action. Ninety-eight police officers were charged. Two years later not one of them has stood trial.

  Charges against 62 of the officers have already been dropped through lack of evidence. Charges against the remaining 25 stay bogged down in a dizzying mix of claims, counter-claims, allegations and alleged delaying tactics.

  'We are getting nowhere fast,' said human rights lawyer Theodoro Te. 'It is depressing.'   Mr de los Reyes' version of events has been told so many times that it has become accepted wisdom in the Philippines.

  Seven gang members, he said, were arrested on May 17, 1995, at a house in the middle-class suburb of Paranaque. They were hog-tied and taken to police headquarters at Camp Crame, where four other Kuratong Baleleng members were already being held.

  From there the 11 were loaded into a Mitsubishi L-300 van and driven away in a convoy that included a blue Mazda pickup truck.

  At a flyover on Don Mariano Marcos Avenue the convoy stopped, four men emerged from the Mazda, walked towards the Mitsubishi and peppered it with machine-gun fire.

  The incident left an indelible mark in the minds of the Filipino people and a soiled image of the country's law enforcers.

  'We would be happier,' said lawyer Mr Te, 'if the powers-that-be were making progress with the case. At least then it would look like we are interested in finding the truth.'   Since the shootout, or rubout, or whatever it might have been, the case's progress through the courts has been painfully slow.

  As early as June 1, 1995, the day the PNP's head of Directorate for Investigation, Chief Superintendent Job Mayo filed charges against the 98 originally accused, people close to the case were already whispering the word 'whitewash'.

  Mr Mayo was dismayed to have some of his evidence turned away as 'piecemeal'.

  The case went to a military ombudsman, who ruled there was no case to answer against any of the 98 officers.

  That ruling was overturned on November 21, 1995, by acting ombudsman Francisco Villa. Mr Villa recommended the filing of 11 charges of murder against 26 officers.

  It appeared to be all systems go.

  Until allegations surfaced that chief ombudsman Aniano Desierto's special prosecutor, Leonardo Tamayo, was caught in a conflict of interest.

  Mr Tamayo's daughter was lawyer for one of the 26 accused. It was hardly the kind of revelation likely to derail the whole prosecution, but it was one of many emerging irritations that frustrated those close to the government's case.

  Two lawyers were accused by Mr de los Reyes of offering him a five million peso (HK$1.45 million) bribe to retract his evidence.

  A former regional trial court judge was said to have approached the head of an investigation panel, asking him to 'go slow' on some of the officers.

  And apart from the allegations of cover-up, conspiracy and bribery, have been numerous suits and counter-suits filed by defence and prosecution lawyers.

  Defence lawyers for one of the accused petitioned for the removal of the ombudsman from the case, claiming he lacked jurisdiction. They also called for the removal of some prosecutors, claiming bias.

  It was classic filibustering, claimed prosecution lawyers. The case came to a virtual standstill, bogged down in paperwork and bound up in red tape.

  While all this was going on, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had been conducting its own investigation into the alleged rubout. Officers concluded that there was a case to answer.

  They discovered no evidence of shots being fired by gang members.

  So, on March 1, 1996, multiple murder charges were finally officially filed against 26 police officers.

  And that is where the case rests.

  Latest developments offer little hope that a trial will start soon.

  Yet Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert Kallos, one of the lawyers handling the state's case, remains hopeful that a trial is not far off.

  'I cannot make an exact forecast, but the case will be heard, I hope some time this year.'   As the second anniversary of the shooting looms, the public and media are once again asking questions about what the Kuratong Baleleng episode says about their country's police and judicial system.

  Even ombudsman Mr Desierto deplored the slow progress, but said it was justified.

  'I have always been critical,' he said. 'But even if it is slow, at least it is sure. Ours is a sure system, ensuring a more secure administration of justice.'   It is the police who have been the real focus of fury from the general public.

  PNP information officer, Senior Superintendent Enrique Galang, admitted that the shootout-rubout had been a bad blow to police morale. 'We have yet to live this scandal down,' he said.

  The final say will go to a judge, but no one knows which one. Even the courts are fighting over where the case will be heard.

  The anti-graft court says it has jurisdiction.

  The Quezon City Regional Trial Court says it does.

  The High Court is still trying to decide between the two.

  A verdict is said to be imminent.

  But the Philippines does not share the same sense of imminence as other parts of the world.



Executing a bloody injustice