DOJ rules out foul play in NBI anti-terror chief’s death

FILE: Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday said it does not see any deliberate criminal intent in the death of National Bureau of Investigation – Counter-Terrorism Division (NBI-CTD) chief Raoul Manguerra.

“Foul play appears to be out of the question.

Accidental fire, that is what the (NBI OIC-chief Eric Distor) told Atty. Manguerra’s widow this morning. By whom fired, he did not elaborate, I have to ask for an official report,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters.
The Manila Police District earlier said Manguerra died from gunshot wounds inside his office at the NBI headquarters in Manila midnight Monday.

Manguerra was declared dead on arrival (DOA) at the Manila Doctors Hospital midnight Monday after succumbing to a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

A certain “Bert”, the victim’s driver and a certain “Dads”, a casual employee in the agency rushed the victim to the hospital after hearing a gunshot inside the victim’s office.

Lawyer Ma. Rosario Bernardo, the victim’s partner, also told police Manguerra had been suffering from Stage 3 colon cancer.

Manguerra was the head of the NBI’s anti-terrorist division that was responsible for the arrest of scores of Abu Sayyaf fighters throughout the country, including in Metro Manila, as well as in providing support security detail to the government lawyers who prosecuted the Maguindanao massacre case.