From “we did not” to “we did.”
Facing a Senate Committee led by former Philippine National Police chief-turned Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the usually firm Police Regional Office 11 (PRO 11) Director Nicolas Torre III crumbled on Friday.
After days of denials, Torre admitted on Friday that the PNP conducted an unauthorized digging at the basement of the Jose Maria College (JMC) building. He made the admission during the second Senate public hearing at the session hall of the Sangguniang Panlungsod in Davao City.
The public hearing is in relation to the ongoing operations of the PNP in the property of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in Buhangin, Davao City.
In a total reversal to his previous firm denial of the alleged diggings, a meek Torre said the excavation was conducted when a “heartbeat” was detected by a life detecting device which he said was estimated around four meters below the ground.
Photos of the digging and tunneling activities of the PNP at the basement of JMC were circulated online, But Torre vehemently denied them in press conferences and even hinted the photos could be “photoshopped.”
Dela Rosa, along with Senators Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Robinhood Padilla, journalists, representatives and technical engineers of the Office of the City Building Official (OCBO), and KOJC representatives inspected various areas of the KOJC compound, including the cathedral, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s private hangar, and the basement of JMC, where the PNP conducted digging and tunneling.
In the basement the group found a pile of lumbers that when removed, revealed smoothened and still uncured concrete.
According to the technical engineer of OCBO, the concrete was still fresh, and based on their testing, it was cemented about two days ago.
Torre also acknowledged that he had let civilians wearing police uniforms into the KOJC property to help with the excavation.
He also admitted that the activity was carried out without a permit.
