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thedrifter
09-17-09, 08:15 AM
‘Spy’ of National Artist a Marines trainee

Navy apologizes to Lumbera for incident

INQUIRER.net

Posted date: September 17, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—The military on Thursday confirmed that the man caught casing the house of National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera is a member of the Philippine Marines.

The military, through Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo, thus apologized to Lumbera for the inconvenience caused to him by the incident. He said the “surveillance” did not target Lumbera, whose address was part of a “random selection” list for the intelligence-gathering training.

In a telephone interview with members of the Defense Press Corps, Arevalo clarified too that Corporal Hannibal Guerrero (Hannival in police reports) is still an enlisted personnel undergoing training, not yet a professional military intelligence operative.

He said the alleged spy who was caught by Mapayapa Village Guards Thursday morning and released a few hours after was conducting an “information verification” that is part of his training under the Naval Enlisted Personnel Intelligence Course (Nepic).

The suspect’s being a trainee may also be the reason why Western Mindanao Command chief Major General Ben denied that the soldier is a Marine.

“He is not a Marine. I’m puzzled,” he said, without saying which unit the arrested soldier belongs to.

In a phone interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dolorfino said he rushed to the headquarters of the Philippine Marine Corps in Manila and verified that Guerrero’s serial and identification number did not belong to the Marines.

Dolorfino urged Lumbera “to visit our office or to write a letter of complaint.”

“So we can fully investigate this matter. We do not operate that way, it’s very unusual,” he said.


Citing information from Captain Bayani Gaerlan, chief of the Naval Intelligence, Arevalo said that Guerrero was acting based on a scenario wherein he is asked to confirm reports that a certain address was frequented by “communist insurgent leaders.”

He added that Guerrero was obviously not a professional intelligence officer since, for one, he was caught and secondly, he “spilled” information about his identity and even brought identification cards.

“The student surely flunked that module where he did not only fail the requirement of his scenario, he was even caught,” Arevalo said.

The Navy spokesman also confirmed media reports that Guerrero had companions who were able to escape. He said intelligence students are trained to disperse after an operation.

He added that there is “nothing really unusual about it” since such exercises are given to trainees taking the Nepic.

“Hindi pwede na (It cannot be purely) theoretical lang. They have to be dispatched for them to do it in a practical manner,” Arevalo said.

Ellie