In a sworn statement submitted to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 43 here, Lenin Canda Salas, 29, said policemen who allegedly tortured him for at least 18 hours tried to compel him to admit to the killing of Rene Tetangco, brother of BSP governor Amando Tetangco, who was killed together with businessman Florencio Yap and Yap’s aide Dennis Guinto in an still unknown place in thisprovince last June 3. Their bodies were found in a van abandoned in Angeles City.
Salas also said his torturers asked him to take responsibility for the killing of businessman Richard Olalia, a friend of Yap, who was shot dead in Barangay Dolores here last June 7. Olalia’s daughter Franie was wounded during the incident.
Salas also claimed in his affidavit that the cops who held him have asked him to also admit to the murder of former Pampanga health officer Dr. Ernesto Santos, who was shot dead inside a vehicle while he was waiting for companions during a fiesta in Sta. Monica, Lubao last May 6.
Probers initially said it was a case of mistaken identity and that the culprits were actually targeting a mayoral candidate whom the victim was waiting for when he was shot dead.
“They also tried to pinus down on other killings,” Salas said in his affidavit written in Pilipino. Salas was among the five who were arrested by the police last Aug. 3 at Barcelona Village in Barangay Sindalan here, and later accused of being leaders of the outlawed Rebolusyunaryong Hukbo ng Bayan (RHB).
The others were Jose Gomez, Jerry Simbulan, Daniel Navarro and Rodwyn Tala who were charged with illegal possession of firearms.
Salas claimed that thearresting cops planted a gun in their car to justify their arrest, even as he denied being a leader of the RHB, the armed group of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP) which broke away from the Communist Party of the Philippines in the 1980’s.
Senior Supt. Wendy Rosario, chief of the Tetangco- Yap Task Force, could not be interviewed as he said in his text message he was attending a conference at Camp Crame.
Newly installed Senior Supt. Richard Albano, who assumed post as regional chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at Camp Crame, could not be reached by cellphone even as his staff said he was not at his office yesterday. The CIDG is a member of the task force.
Chief Supt. Allan Purisima was also unavailable for interview on developments on the Tetangco case. He assumed post only a few days ago, replacing Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac who had formed the Tetangco-Yap Task Force.
This, even as Salas said in his affidavit that after he was held by cops last Aug. 3, he was severely tortured. He named one Col. Madzgani Mukaram as among the cops.
He said that for 18 hours, he was kicked and hit with firearms in various parts of his body by men in combat uniforms, after he and his companions were brought to what seemed to be a police headquarters.
The cops, he added, also burned his nape with a lighted cigarette and burned part of his hair.
“Someone also used electric wire he used to strangle my neck. They also covered by head with plastic that made breathing impossible, while they hit my abdomen repeatedly. They released the plastic only to prevent be from totally suffocating, but they would repeat the same procedure,” he said.
He claimed his torturers also made him drink water mixed with urine, as well as forced him to eat his rubber slippers.
Salas said he was also compelled to admit being the top leader of the RHBMLPP in Pampanga.
