Monday, 11 05, 2001

BAGUIO CITY ?President Arroyo has ordered the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) to expel from its roster two successful applicants who are believed to have engaged in kidnap-for-ransom activity and a murder case.

One of the applicants is an alleged member of kidnapping group while the other, a suspect in the murder of University of Sto. Tomas (UST) student Mark Welson Chua.

Wilson Chua, father of Mark, informed Mrs. Arroyo, during her program May Gloria ang Bukas Mo, that a witness in the case also testified before the National Bureau of Investigation naming three suspects ?Eduardo Tabrilla, Franco Suelto and Arnulfo Aparri ?as members of an alleged kidnap-for-ransom gang.

The three suspects are all officers of UST's Reserved Officers Training Corps. (ROTC). Tabrilla is the primary suspect in Mark's murder.

It was learned all three passed the rigid PMA examinations last year. They will enter the military school in 2002.

Chua requested Mrs. Arroyo to direct Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Leandro Mendoza to conduct an in-depth investigation of the alleged kidnap-for-ransom gang operating in UST and place them under the witness protection program citing security reasons.

Mendoza, for his part, confirmed appropriate charges have been filed in court against the murder suspects, adding both the police and NBI are working on the other cases in which the ROTC officers have been involved.

In response to Mrs. Arroyo's order, Army Capt. Edgard Arevalo, PMA information officer, however, said only two names are in the roster of successful entrants in the military school. “Tabrilla is not one of them,?he said.

Arevalo said the entrance examinations is just one of the many processes that filters the would-be plebes. If there are grounds for expulsion, these men will be informed, he added.

“We need to determine the veracity of their involvement. It is not the policy of the academy to reject successful entrants by mere suspicion,?he said.

The suspected kidnap-for-ransom gang in UST evolved two years ago during the time of ROTC commandant Maj. Demy Tejares. The NBI recommended the filing of murder charges against four of UST's seven ROTC officers believed to be the masterminds in Chua's murder.?Chua was the one who exposed their alleged illegal activities.

Jojo Lamaria

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