By Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:07:00 11/28/2010
MANILA, Philippines—The influential Alpha Phi Omega (APO) is planning to turn the tables on Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, who implicated the group in three grenade attacks in Manila.
Saying authorities produced no hard evidence to back the accusations, senior APO official Ferdie Ramos on Friday said the fraternity would go after De Lima before the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).
Ramos said the group was banking on the supposed support of at least seven members of the body, including Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. who is a purported member.
Ramos admitted that such a tact would place APO in a “no-win situation.”
“But we will do it if only to make a point,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
“We want to send the message that she cannot just go around town accusing us of a wrongdoing without presenting any evidence.”
Ramos, who was a senior campaigner for former President Joseph Estrada in the May 2010 elections, was also relying on his fraternity's supposed affiliation with the political opposition to nail De Lima at the CA.
“We have more than seven supporters or sympathizers in the CA,” he said.
“Remember that the opposition outnumbers the administration
Citing findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), De Lima
earlier tagged APO members in the Sept. 27 bar examination
The NBI later informed De Lima that the group was also behind similar
grenade attacks at La Consolacion College in
“The authors of these incidents, of these grenade-throwing incidents, are
connected,” she had told reporters.
But more than two weeks after the disclosure, De Lima and the NBI were yet
to produce any evidence against APO or arrest a member of the fraternity,
according to Ramos.
Only Anthony Nepomuceno, 27, had been officially identified as the one who
had lobbed a grenade in front of the De La Salle University
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