METRO?
                  Thursday, 1997 issue

2 cops who secured.... Lim behind arrests of suspects 

    THE two policemen accused of moonlighting as bodyguards of businessman Peter Lim were responsible for the arrest of the initial suspects in the Chiong sisters' abduction, PNP Criminal Investigation Group 7 director Napoleon Estilles said.

      But Estilles said SPO1 Reynaldo Martillano and SPO3 Michael Sarcol appeared "sincere" in their efforts to solve the Chiong case.

      Dionisio Chiong, the girls' father, works for Lim although the family had taken paid ads in local dailies appealing to the public not to drag the name of the heavy equipment supplier to the issue.

      Estilles said Martillano and Sarcol were reponsible for nabbing Alberto Caño and Ariel Balansag, the driver and the conductor of a "Colorum" van plying the Carcar-Cebu City.

      Caño and Balansag were detained by police after their van was allegedly seen near the ravine in Sitio Tan-awan in Carcar, the place where Marijoy's body was found.

      The pair was, however, later released by police after they failed to find concrete evidence to pin them as responsible for the rape-slay of Marijoy and the continued disappearance of Jacqueline.      

      Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia said that if the city police could not sanction policemen who moonlighted as Lim's bodyguards, he would recommend for their transfer to other regions of the country.

      Garcia issued the threat after Cebu City Police Office chief Antonio Enteria said they were having a hard time investigating the cops for lack of evidence.

      Garcia said neither he nor any other City Hall official recommended bodyguards for Lim.

      Sarcol and Martillano were discovered to have moonlighted as security escorts for Lim during last Saturday's House committee on public order and safety on drugs.

      During the House inquiry, Lim was reported to have five bodyguards, three policemen, a former Army trainee and a civilian.

      Records at the PNP Visayas Security Escort Monitoring Office said Sarcol was officially detailed as Lim's bodyguard. It said that his assignment to Lim was approved by PNP chief Recaredo Sarmiento.

      Martillano is also being investigated for allegations he had been moonlighting in one of Lim's establishments. (Nagiel Bañacia and Jocelyn Vercide)