TWO police “assets” were linked to the case of a missing “sabungero” yesterday as the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs held its final hearing into the abduction of 34 cockfighting afficionados last year.
Christy Ladao, the common-law wife of Johnver Francisco, said during the hearing that police assets Nicholas Manio, 22, and his brother Nicasio Manio, 21, were among the individuals who abducted her husband and his driver Frank Etac in a gasoline station in Meycauayan City, Bulacan on April 18 last year.
Ladao said the Manio brothers were allegedly being used as civilian informants of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) – Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU).
Mrs. Francisco said she learned of the Manio bothers’ alleged involvement when they were seen on a TV news report after the two were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation’s Task Force Against Illegal Drugs on Jan. 31 this year in Batangas.
Eduardo Ramos Jr. chief of the NBI task force, said the Manio brothers are now under the custody of the NBI in its headquarters in Manila.
Ramos said suspicions that the Manio brothers were involved in the abduction of Francisco and Etac were strengthened after the watch of Francisco was found in the possession of one of the Manios after their arrest.
Ladao said that soon after she learned that the Manio brothers were detained at the NBI headquarters, she visited them to know the whereabouts of his husband.
Quoting the two assets, Ladao said her husband was allegedly “buried” somewhere in Laguna after he was abducted.
The Manio brothers, she added, promised to fully cooperate but are fearing for the lives of the relatives who are being harassed by policemen.
She said there were CCTV footages, which have been submitted to the NBI, to prove that the Manio brothers and members of the NCRPO-RDEU were known to each other as they were seen together eating at a restaurant.
The Manio brothers, who were physically present at the Senate during yesterday’s committee hearing, denied Ladao’s allegations that they were assets of the NCRPO-RDEU and that they have been working with the cops.
Police Lt. Col. Ryan Jay Orapa, who was a former member of the Laguna Police intelligence branch who formerly headed the NCRPO-RDEU, denied that the Manio brothers were their unit’s informants.
