NBI to probe Esmeralda shooting case

MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) said it has given the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) a free-hand in probing the ambush of NBI deputy director Reynaldo Esmeralda.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said this during the Friday edition of the Communication News Exchange (CNEX) forum at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) building in Quezon City.

Cruz said the NBI had already collected some pieces of evidence when policemen arrived at the crime scene.

“The Manila Police District (MPD) said it was the NBI [that] first arrived at the scene so the evidence went to the NBI,” Cruz said during the forum produced by the Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO).

The PNP will act only as a supporting unit to the NBI, according to Cruz. He said police investigators had already interviewed some witnesses who were able to see the suspects.

He also said it was still too early to say if the incident was orchestrated by Esmeralda himself as investigators were still gathering evidence from the crime scene and statements from the witnesses.

Last February 21, motorcycle-riding gunmen allegedly ambushed Esmeralda, his brother Nilo, and his driver along Apacible Street, Paco, Manila.

The three were wounded from shrapnel and glass fragments and were rushed to the Manila Doctors Hospital on Isaac Peral Street in Ermita, Manila.