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DOJ OKs criminal raps vs. 3 in foiled NAIA bomb try


The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended criminal charges against the three suspects in the alleged foiled bombing attempt at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) earlier this month.

In a 10-page resolution, Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said he found probable cause to file charges of illegal possession of incendiary devices against Grandeur Pepito Guerrero, Emmanuel San Pedro and Sonny Yohanon.

The three were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation on September 1 for the failed bombing attempt at the NAIA. Aside from the explosives, the NBI agents also seized a four-page document from the suspects which detailed a plan to strafe the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

"The respondents were positively, consistently and categorically identified by the operatives as the person who alighted from the Toyota Revo and later on took the improvised incendiary device therefrom," Reyes said in the resolution.

Reyes added that the suspects failed to present any evidence showing the existence of a certain "Paranga" who they claimed loaded the explosives in the vehicle at the NAIA parking area before escaping.
 
Reyes said it was only Guerrero and his two cohorts who were last seen boarding or alighting from the Toyota Revo when it was spotted along Makati City and then later on parked at the NAIA Terminal 3. He also noted that the fact the vehicle was officially endorsed under Guerrero's name by his company meant he "exercises control over the said vehicle for being his service vehicle."

Reyes said it cannot be disputed that the three suspects were aware that they were riding a vehicle loaded with incendiary devices, which were not hidden but were plainly exposed at the back of the vehicle.

"Obviously, the act of each of the respondents is in furtherance of a common design; hence, all of them should be held equally liable for possession of the subject improvised incendiary device," Reyes said.

He disagreed with the respondents' claims that the evidence against them were planted and that they were illegally arrested. He said there was "no showing of ill motive on the part of the NBI operatives, nor is there any deviation in the standard procedure in effecting warrantless arrest."

In his resolution, Reyes, meanwhile, dismissed the separate illegal possesion of firearms charges against the suspects, after the complainant failed to submit a certification that they are not licensed or permitted to carry or possess firearms.

Former presidential nuisance candidate Ely Pamatong, the alleged brains behind the plan of the three suspects, had earlier admitted "encouraging" Guerrero to "do everything reasonable to stop the Chinese economic domination of the Philippines."

Pamatong had run for president in 2004 and 2010 but was dismissed as a nuisance candidate both times. —KBK, GMA News

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