More than meets the eye by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo June 11, 2010

By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise/Business World
Posted by Bulatlat.com

The story could have come right out of an American-made suspense thriller with the mysterious death of a nondescript fellow followed by a suspicious cover-up by government officials and the murder of a likely whistleblower. It has the makings of a classic whodunit except that this time it’s for real. Thirty-three-year-old Gregan Cardeño, a native of Zamboanga Sibugay, was recruited by a private military contractor to work as an interpreter for US Armed Forces (USAF). On February 2, a day after he started work in a supposed AFP facility in Marawi City, he was found dead. The police called it a suicide and stopped investigating.
Less than two months later, Philippine Army Captain Javier Ignacio – a family friend who helped recruit Cardeño – was gunned down while on his way to a meeting with groups conducting an independent probe into the case. Ignacio, a member of the AFP Military Police, said he had vital information to share. He had earlier spoken of attempts by undisclosed parties to bribe him into keeping silent followed by death threats should he persist in seeking the truth behind Cardeño’s death.

One would think that the sudden death of a civilian employee of a USAF contractor would warrant a more careful, thoroughgoing and transparent investigation on the part of all concerned, i.e. the US military under whose authority Cardeño was operating, the AFP which controls the military camp where the incident occurred, as well as the police investigators who were called to the crime scene..... MORE    

Source:  Bulatlat

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/11/carol-pagaduan-araullo-more-than-meets-the-eye/