THE KILLINGS by the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, case records and official investigation reports show, were eerily alike: suspected criminals were shot either in their homes or hideouts, or while they were in the custody of the police or the PACC. Later, "encounters" were announced in the press to justify the corpses.

Our investigation shows that in the last three years, at least 40 people have been killed under questionable circumstances in the course of PACC operations. All of these killings have been investigated by official agencies-the National Bureau of Investigation, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the House Committee on Good Government and various trial courts around the country.

In all of them, these agencies have found strong evidence that the killings were unlawful and unnecessary. Former Task Force Habagat Chief Panfilo Lacson disputed these findings. "Those reports never went beyond speculation," he said in an interview.

The most recent accusations against PACC was the killing on May 17 and 18 of 13 members of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang and a civilian supporter. The NBI has found clear evidence of a "rub-out" of the gang members.

PNP intelligence officials claimed that Lacson, head of the now disbanded Task Force Habagat, gave the signal for the Kuratong killings. The same claim was made by enlisted personnel assigned to the Traffic Management Command who were waiting for Lacson before the operation started.

DATE	INCIDENT	FINDINGS	BODY COUNT
August 1992	Killing of Pueda brothers and two others suspected of drug-dealing	Rub out (NBI, House good government committee)	Four (4)
September 1992	Killing of Lai and four others suspected of drug-dealing	Rub-out(NBI)	Five (5)
October 1992	Killing of OCW Wilfredo Aala kidnapping suspect	Murder (House good government committee)	One (1)
January 1993	Killing of suspected RSG members	Rub out (NBI)	Six (6)
February 1993	Killing of Alfredo de Leon	Murder(PNP)	One (1)
January 1994	Killing of Carmelito Calasan alleged Kuratong Baleleng member	Murder (CHR, Cebu)	One (1)
April 1994	Killing of Jimmy Co, suspected drug dealer	Murder (NBI)	One (1)
June 1994	Killing of Wilfredo Muñoz and six other suspected RSG members	Rub out (CHR)	Seven (7)
January 1995	Killing of Rafael Almero, robbery suspect	Murder(NBI)	One (1)
May 1995	Killing of 11 alleged Kuratong Baleleng members	Rub-out (NBI)	Eleven (11)
May 1995	Killing of alleged Kuratong leader Wilson Soronda & kin Gemma	Murder (NBI)	Two (2)

Police intelligence sources said that Lacson, as Habagat chief, wielded great clout among law-enforcement agencies because he represented the vice-president, the top honcho of the anti-crime hierarchy.

"Lacson could go over the heads of anyone of us," said a police officer who asked not to be named. "It is a great insult to the PNP command that the suspects were killed the way they were killed, barefoot, wearing slippers and sando. It smelled of a rub-out PACC style. We would have done it with more finesse," the official said.

But Lacson did not agree. "The PACC was the lead agency but we simply coordinated with them," he said. "I defer to men who are more senior to me."

PACC chief Vice-President Joseph Estrada has consistently denied the involvement of his men in "salvaging." "We should consider the rights of victims first," he said in a press conference on the Kuratong Baleleng case. But he added, referring to the Kuratong gangsters who were slain, "These kinds of people don't deserve sympathy because they are ruthless... It's just right that they were exterminated."

A day after the killing, Estrada announced the elimination of the Kuratong Baleleng threat as a PACC accomplishment. But later, he disowned the agency's involvement in the incident.

Two years ago, almost exactly the same thing happened to 13 members of the kidnap-for-ransom gang, the Red Scorpion Group (RSG), whom the CHR found had most likely been summarily executed in two separate incidents in 1993.

The killing of RSG head Alfredo de Leon and his followers in February 1993 was a watershed in the PACC's history.

The killings turned the tide in favor of PACC's anti-kidnapping drive and helped build its image as the most efficient crime-busting unit of the country. The Chinese-Filipino community applauded and showed its appreciation by giving more contributions for PACC operations.

Until the cold-blooded shooting of Kuratong Baleleng Gang members, most law-enforcement agencies and much of the public were willing to look the other way, allowing the commission to get away with questionable methods as long it got the criminals.

In only one case was the commission made to account in court for these killings. In at least two instances, documents-including personal checks issued by the vice-president-show that PACC agents evaded lawsuits because Estrada paid off the victims' relatives. In others, higher authorities have sat down on the recommendations of investigating agencies that cases be field against erring personnel.

The RSG killings set the standard for PACC operatives. From then on, they knew that they could rely on Estrada's support and immense popularity and the generally favorable media coverage of the agency's activities.

Col. Reynaldo Berroya, who was fired in 1993 from his post as the first chief of the main PACC task force, explained the commission's seeming recklessness. "Resorting to dramatic shortcuts becomes difficult to resist for many of the PACC men because of intense pressure from Erap (Estrada) to produce positive results at all costs. Besides, they are more likely to be promoted if they have been involved in so-called dangerous encounters."

In February 1993, the PACC reported that six top leaders of the dreaded RSG were killed in "synchronized and coordinated tactical and military police operations" in Cavite, Bulacan, Angeles City, Tarlac and Metro Manila.

The operations, dubbed "Purple Pinch," were launched from January 30 to February 1 by the PNP Intelligence Command, PNP Regional Commands 3 and 4, and the Criminal Investigation Service Command. Killed during the supposed shoot-out were Ronnic Oseo, Rolando Panelowan, Jimmy Rodriguez, Alberto Daylo, one alias Kali and one alias Jojo.

A journalist remembers that in February 1993, Estrada called a press conference at his home to report an "armed encounter" between Lacson's group and the alleged RSG remnants in Dasmarinas, Cavite and Bulacan.

There was nothing irregular in that press conference — except that the vice-president announced a firefight with the RSG three hours before the incident actually took place. Press releases were even handed out to reporters, detailing a battle that was yet to happen. After the reporters were taken to the sites, the releases were recalled and altered to correct the inconsistencies.

A PNP officer who helped arrest the gang members — by sending out fake messages to their beepers and leading them to the site where they were caught-says six RSG suspects were alive when they were brought to Camp Crame. The officer, who asked not to be named, says the men were even videotaped by Chief Supt. Jewel Canson, then of the PNP Intelligence Command.

"I was surprised when PACC operatives led by Lacson suddenly arrived and took the suspects from us. The next day, the PACC reported them killed in a shootout," the officer says.

Lawyer Lupino Lazaro represented Carmelito Bendo, tagged by Lacson as Alfredo de Leon's successor. Later, Bendo would claim to be a PACC asset used by Lacson to penetrate the RSG. He would also say that hours before the supposed encounter with the RSG in Cavite and Bulacan, he was taken to Camp Crame to identify the victims, who were still alive.

Lazaro claims his client has since mysteriously disappeared. De Leon himself, who eluded arrests in the earlier PACC operations, accused the commission of rubbing out the suspects. A few weeks after he made the accusation, it would be his turn.

Lacson called Lazaro's statements mere propaganda. "Our participation in that operation was limited to intelligence and technical support. The actual operation was conducted by the Bulacan and Cavite PNP Command," he said. "Besides, the public should be happy that the RSG is gone. In their heyday, they committed at least two kidnappings a week. Have we forgotten their innocent victims?"

A post-mortem report by the PNP Crime Laboratory dated March 21, 1994, a year after de Leon died, shows that aside from bullet wounds all over his body, the RSG leader bore ligature marks on both wrists, a sign that his hands could have been tied when he was killed.

De Leon was killed on March 17, 1993 in a reported shootout with PACC agents led by Lacson and a group of Criminal Investigation Service Command agents. The officers said that the gangster was slain while trying to escape by crossing a creek to a rice field, even as he was shooting back at his attackers.

But a PNP source privy to the details of the operation said de Leon jumped out of the window of the safehouse where he was cornered by the PACC agents. When he was caught, he was tied and shot.

On September 14,1994, PACC gunned for the last remnants of the Red Scorpion Group, using the same tactics it had now perfected, in an operation it named, "Complan Hammerwhale."

The following day, Lacson reported that Task Force Habagat members went to the gang's safehouse in Bulacan to serve a search warrant. But they were met by a volley of gunfire. The PACC shot back, killing four RSG members. Two more were shot when they tried to flee aboard a vehicle.

This case was again the subject of investigations by the House Committee on Public Order and Safety and the Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights. On October 11, 1984, the CHR investigating team found that the victims had gunshot wounds in their heads and bodies. Complan Hammerwhale's intention, the report concluded, was to kill, not merely to capture.

The report added that one of the victims was found dead in a bedroom, another was hiding under a sink. A third victim was in the dining room, while a fourth lay in the backyard. None of them, said the CHR, looked like they had been taking part in an armed encounter. The two other fatalities, who were fleeing on board a car, did not look like they could have fired back as their car windows were found closed, the report said.

CHR recommended the filing of administrative charges against the PACC agents for violating standard rules of engagement.

Before and after the RSG incident, the PACC left a trail of corpses in the wake of its operations. In its three years of life, the agency has been called several times by Congress and the CHR to account for these killings.

"We're not guilty," Lacson said in PACC's defense. "These are ruthless, armed people who are ready to kill that we're dealing with. All it takes is a split second of indecision and you're dead. Don't blame us if our instinct for self-preservation is strong."