Upon instructions of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has made significant headway in their efforts to locate and arrest members of the Magpali Group operating in the Ilocos-Pangasinan region.
PNP Chief Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the alleged leader of the group, dismissed Police Lt. Col. Wilson Magpali, has surfaced after feeling the pressure of police manhunt operations by PNP tracker teams assigned to find him and his alleged members.
Accompanied by private counsel, Magpali voluntarily appeared before the office of the PNP Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) on Monday (July 26) and executed an affidavit attesting that he voluntarily submitted himself to the PNP “to clear my name, seek redress and protection from possible harm against me.”
“Fearing for my life and to clear my name, honor, and integrity and to clear myself from the investigation being conducted against my person, I voluntarily went to the Intelligence Group in Camp Crame, Quezon City to clear my name of the allegations of my alleged involvement,” Magpali said in his affidavit.
He maintained that “I am not the leader of the Magpali Gun for Hire Group and [have] no knowledge of the accusation of planned killing of politicians in La Union.”
He expressed willingness to cooperate with authorities and requested the PNP-IG for temporary custody to undergo investigation.
Citing reports from Acting IG Director Police Col. Neil Alinsañgan, Eleazar said Magpali left his rented apartment unit in Barangay Legazpi, Tayug, Pangasinan in 2019 after he was implicated in the killing of a certain Freddie Ramirez.
Eleazar instructed IG to coordinate closely with CIDG in conducting operational research and case-build-up efforts against Magpali and his group who were allegedly involved in several cases of assassination in the Ilocos Region.
“We respect his rights as a private individual. Until there is an order from the Court to arrest him, he remains a free man,” Eleazar said.
“We acknowledge his manifestation of good faith in submitting himself to us, but the moment we establish a case against him, he will have to face his charges squarely,” he added.
(PNP-PIO) – jlo
