MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday created a fact-finding panel to look into allegations that agents of the National Bureau of Investigation had abducted a Japanese woman and tried to extort P100 million from her foster family.
Speaking in a news briefing, De Lima said she designated Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III to lead the probe into the supposed abduction of Noriyo Ohara, who told Radyo Inquirer 990 that she was purportedly taken by NBI agents from the house of her foster family in Pangasinan on October 29.
She also named Justice Assistant Secretary Zabedin Azis and City Prosecutor Donald Lee as members of the three-man panel.
“There are questions surrounding this particular incident and I would want this panel to get to the bottom of things and ferret out the truth” De Lima told reporters.
“If warranted, (the panel should) file administrative or criminal charges (against the NBI agents involved),” she added.
De Lima said Ohara, 32, was allegedly seized by personnel of the NBI’s Security Management Division for her being an undocumented alien.
She said the foreigner’s foster family claimed that the NBI agents initially asked for P100 million in exchange for her freedom, but later agreed to lower it to P15 million.
The family was reportedly able to pay P6 million to the NBI agents, she added.
The justice secretary pointed out that the said NBI division was not authorized to arrest illegal aliens and overstaying foreigners in the country.
She said NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula had relieved from their posts NBI-SMD chief Mario Garcia, his executive officer Jose Odelion Cabillan and two other agents identified only as Chona and Labsky.