APO frat forms legal team to defend brod

NBI files attempted murder charges vs bomb suspect
By Christian V. Esguerra, Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:52:00 10/29/2010

Filed Under: Board Exams, Crime and Law and Justice, Explosion

MANILA, Philippines — The influential Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity is not taking chances with the criminal charges filed Thursday against one of its members in connection with the explosion that injured 47 people on the last day of the bar examinations on Sept. 26.

The frat has organized a team of lawyers to defend 27-year-old Anthony Nepomuceno, a call center agent who is suspected of being behind the grenade attack in front of De La Salle University on Taft Avenue in Manila.

The five-man legal team will be headed by Jeffrey Zarate, an expert in litigation, according to APO member Silvestre Bello III, a justice secretary in the Arroyo Cabinet who, along with frat “brod” Vice President Jejomar Binay, had earlier vouched for Nepomuceno’s innocence.

The National Bureau of Investigation charged Nepomuceno with multiple frustrated and attempted murder before the Department of Justice (DoJ).

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Nepomuceno had been positively identified by two of 17 witnesses to the explosion.

Gatdula said the witnesses were credible and had expressed no interest in the P1.2-million reward offered by authorities for information that would lead to the identification of the bomber.

“[The witnesses] never even asked about [the reward]. They saw the suspect. They saw the victims of the blast and sympathized with them. They were there and simply disclosed to us what they knew,” Gatdula said.

He said a composite sketch based on witnesses’ descriptions and information from other witnesses including tricycle drivers enabled NBI personnel to track down Nepomuceno at his hometown in Marinduque and at his current address in Marikina City.

10 complainants

The NBI, along with two of the witnesses, arrived in full force at the DoJ office to file the charges against Nepomuceno.

The charge sheet includes a number of John Does. According to NBI spokesperson Cecilio Zamora Jr., the bureau is identifying at least seven other people involved in the explosion.

There are 10 complainants—Jeffrey Alvarez, Nathaniel Eric So, Philip Edwin de Ello, Datu Muhammand Abdul-Ampatuan, Rainier Anthony Millanes, Azenith Gonzalgo, Ma. Antonia Raissa Dawn Laurel, Andrine Gastiles Navarro, Ma. Estela Maniquis and Diane Hazel Canita.

Laurel, a law student, lost her two legs as a result of the grenade attack.

A DoJ prosecutor is to schedule a preliminary investigation to determine probable cause.

Nepomuceno is not under anyone’s custody and will be taken in only after a court issues a warrant for his arrest, Zamora said.

He said the filing of charges against Nepomuceno had effectively cleared Jed Carlo Lazaga of San Jose Recoletos in Cebu of liability in the grenade attack.

Lazaga was initially identified by police as a suspect.

‘All in the evidence’

On the phone Thursday with the Inquirer, Bello said Nepomuceno had denied to him and other senior APO members involvement in the explosion, and that the frat decided to take up his legal defense on the basis of that denial.

Both Bello and Binay accompanied Nepomuceno on Wednesday to the NBI office supposedly because he wanted to clear his name.

But Bello, a former chief government negotiator in peace talks with the communist National Democratic Front, said neither he nor the Vice President was trying to get Nepomuceno off the hook.

“The case will be resolved according to the evidence presented. If the evidence is strong, he will be found guilty. If it’s not, we will expect a quick acquittal. It’s all in the evidence,” Bello said, adding:

“We are not clearing him. We are not prejudging the case. No one is above the law. If he is guilty, he should answer for the consequences of the criminal act.”

‘Tell the truth’

Bello said Nepomuceno managed to reach him through their frat “brods.”

He said a meeting of less than an hour took place on Tuesday in Makati City, during which a tearful Nepomuceno claimed innocence of the crime.

“Before we brought him to the DoJ, we ... told him, ‘We are willing to help, but you have to tell us the truth. But if you had anything to do with it, the law will take its course,’” Bello said.

It was after the meeting in Makati that Bello and Binay decided to escort Nepomuceno to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to answer the allegations.

“We thought it best for him to present himself and clear himself,” Bello said.

Eyewitnesses’ account

Zamora was confident of Nepomuceno’s guilt.

“We have witnesses that say it was he who threw the grenade. We believe we have a strong case against him,” Zamora said.

He said a witness had absolutely no doubt in picking out Nepomuceno in a police line-up: “Walang kaduda-duda, nilapitan niya agad.”

Zamora also said witnesses saw Nepomuceno attempt to run away after throwing the fragmentation grenade at a crowd of mostly law students taking part in the traditional street revelry marking the final day of the bar examinations.

He said that apart from eyewitness accounts, there was “supporting evidence” that he could not yet reveal.

“There were things that happened before [the explosion] that would prove that it was premeditated,” he said.

But Bello said Nepomuceno, who reportedly quit his call center job after NBI agents showed up at his parents’ house in Marinduque, had consistently denied responsibility for the explosion and even feared for his safety.

Bello said Nepomuceno needed help, especially legal assistance, considering that he no longer had a job and “had no money.”

Nepomuceno’s parents are a tricycle driver and a public school teacher, Bello said.

Continuing inquiry

Gatdula said the NBI was still investigating the motive behind the grenade attack.

“We will discover the real motive in the course of the continuing investigation, but witnesses have identified Nepomuceno as the grenade thrower, and they have given their sworn statements which we used as basis to charge him,” Gatdula said.

Zamora said the bureau was “not sticking to the frat-war motive 100 percent.”

“That could be, but we are not yet sure. We are charging [Nepomuceno] because of his individual act and not because he is part of any fraternity. We still don’t know yet if someone else is behind this. The investigation as to the motive is continuing,” Zamora said.

Binay’s opinion

Asked about the Vice President’s statements on Wednesday virtually exonerating Nepomuceno, Zamora replied in Filipino: “That is his opinion and we respect that.”

He said “what was important” was that people witnessed Nepomuceno in the act of throwing the grenade.

Explaining the charges filed against Nepomuceno, Zamora said using a “lethal” explosive like a grenade was tantamount to intending to kill, and not just injure, people.