De Lima asks APO to stick to commitment to blast probe

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday asked the leadership of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity not to renege on its earlier commitment to cooperate in the investigation in the grenade attack that marred the last day of the Bar examinations last September 26. De Lima said she is saddened that one of APO’s elders said the fraternity regrets surrendering suspect Anthony Leal Nepomuceno, an APO member accused of being the grenade-thrower, to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). “I hope it doesn’t mean they’re reneging [on] their commitment [that] they’ll cooperate. Why are they changing their stance? They have stated they're going to cooperate, which includes the production of Nepomuceno each time he’s needed (in the investigation)," De Lima told reporters. Prior to this, APO member Ferdie Ramos said it was a mistake for the fraternity to turn over Nepomuceno because the NBI already seemed bent on pinning him as a suspect even if the investigation is still ongoing. “Tila pagkakamali na sinuko namin si Anthony. Ang sinasabi nilang suspect ay law student at may scholastic record sila. Ang brod namin ay di law student at graduate siya ng IT (information technology). Tapos nung mailabas namin ito, pinagdiinan na siya," Ramos said in a radio interview. (Surrendering Anthony was a mistake. NBI said the suspect they were looking for was a law student and had scholastic records. Our fraternity brother is not a law student and is a graduate of information technology. And then, when we surrendered him, he was already being pinned down.) De Lima asked what suddenly made the APO group change its stance. “This development where they are having second thoughts… what is causing that? Why? They're professing the innocence of their brod? Then let them prove it. But the sudden change of stance. Why?" De Lima said. The justice secretary likewise stood by her earlier statements that the two other suspects in the violence belong to the APO fraternity. The two supposedly helped Nepomuceno escape when he was being mauled after he allegedly lobbed the grenade. Still, De Lima declined to divulge their names, saying she has yet to consult NBI investigators handling the matter. “There is no need to make these public at this point," she said. - KBK, GMANews.TV