Navy: Surveillance on Lumbera home part of ‘intel’ training

The spokesman for the Philippine Navy on Thursday confirmed that the man nabbed outside the house of National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera was a personnel of the Philippine Marines carrying out an exercise for his surveillance training class. Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo identified the serviceman as Cpl. Hannibal Mosura Mondido Guerrero, who was arrested by village security for taking pictures of Lumbera’s house in Mapayapa village in Quezon City at about 6 a.m. "We are confirming that we have a Marine personnel with [that] name… We are also confirming that he was the one brought to police custody," Arevalo told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. "We clarify, however, that his presence (inside the village) was not in any way meant to spy on Lumbera," he added. Lumbera, a National Artist for Literature, earlier said his house helpers noticed three men taking pictures of their house "from all angles" at about 6 a.m. Guerrero was later held after Lumbera alerted the village security. Guerrero’s two companions sped off aboard a vehicle. [See: 'Soldier' held for 'surveillance' on National Artist Lumbera's home] But Arevalo said the soldiers’ activities were merely part of a surveillance training under the military’s Naval Intelligence Security Force. During the activity, trainees are given random addresses of unidentified civilians where they would conduct mock surveillance operations. "Under the ‘scenario,’ they are told that the house was visited by a leftist insurgent and they are tasked to verify the report," Arevalo said. Apology Arevalo said he would look for "the quickest possible way" to express the military’s apology to Lumbera, who is a leader of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines and a national council member of militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). "We would like to apologize to Professor Lumbera for the inconvenience and we would like to assure him that what happened was not intentional," he said. Lumbera is an active participant in protest actions against Malacañang's giving of the National Artist Award to comic book icon Carlo J. Caparas. The Palace has already ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to look into the matter. Bayan, for its part, expressed outrage over the incident and urged the Philippine National Police to "quickly move in investigating the reported surveillance." Guerrero was initially handed over by village security guards to the Quezon City Police District Station 3 (Talipapa). But the Marines personnel later had to be released since no one has come forward to file a complaint against him, a radio dzBB report said. Asked what actions the AFP would take, Arevalo said they would study if sanctions could be handed down to Guerrero. But one thing's for sure, Guerrero failed the training exercise. "Siyempre, bagsak na siya doon sa exercise. He was not supposed to be discovered kasi surveillance nga iyon pero he [was] apprehended," Arevalo said. - GMANews.TV