MANILA: A small-scale mining financier
in Jose Panganiban, CamNorte broke his silence over his alleged role on the
incident in Atimonan, Quezon that left 13 people dead.
While his name has already been
mentioned in news reports, Ronnie Habitan requested that his face be hidden and
his voice distorted for security reasons.
He denied allegations made by Pastor
Roger de Castro, a friend of slain Supt Alfredo Consemino, that a dispute in
gold shares is the motive behind the alleged rubout.
“Sinungaling 'yung pastor na 'yun,
nakaharap ko na yun, sinungaling 'yun pastor na 'yun … Paano magkaka-onsehan
'yun e, wala naman silang [Consemino] pambili ng ginto, ayos naman silang
kausap, nagbabayad naman, kaso nitong huli hindi pa siya nakakabayad,” Habitan
said.
Habitan’s name was dragged into the incident
after Consemino’s daughter alleged that he met with her father’s group, also
led by Victor “Vic” Siman, early on January 6.
Habitan confirmed Consemino visited him
that Sunday, hours before the killing.
He claimed, however, that the visit was
about laying out plans in the operations of the Golden Nor Security Agency.
“Wala kaming usapan sa ginto, ang pinag-usapan namin sa security,” he said.
He also clarified that he did not give
the group some P5 million, which has supposedly gone missing after the
incident. The amount was supposedly for the operations of the security agency.
He asked Siman to give him at least a
week to mull things over and study the proposal for the security agency. He
said no less than Siman admitted to him that most of their businesses are
illegal, which include a jueteng operation.
Habitan also confirmed that one of the
13 who died,
Maximo Pelayo of Tigaon, Camarines Sur,
is the leader of Siman’s gun-for-hire business.
He also suspects that the white pick-up
truck, which was reportedly with the convoy in Quezon, might have fled to
Pampanga.
The National Bureau of Investigation and
the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group have
already taken the statements of Habitan.
Meanwhile, Camarines Norte PNP chief
Ricardo Paleracio noted there seems nothing illegal in the victims’ meeting
with Habitan on the morning of that day. He stressed, however, that the Quezon
police has jurisdiction over the shooting incident. – Jonathan Magistrado and
Israel Malasa, ABS-CBN News
No comments:
Post a Comment