THE RAMOS government's seeming immobility in the face of kidnappings and bank robberies and a public begging for action provided the perfect environment for the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), giving it virtual carte blanche to conduct operations in the manner it wanted.

This environment made it possible for PACC operatives to get away with most of the following controversial killings:

• The gangland-style execution of Pasay City policeman Elmer Pueda and his brother Jeffrey, lawyer Luis Matro and their civilian companion Leonardo Montalvo in August 1992, barely a month after the PACC was organized.

In a report dated June 15, 1993, the House Committee on Good Government, aided by the NBI, ruled that the victims were murdered: they were shot at close range and never fired back at their attackers. Alarmed, the committee ordered the PACC to conduct background checks on all its operatives and to review its guidelines in making arrests and searches.

It also recommended the prosecution of the officers involved before the Sandiganbayan, where they are now facing murder charges. This remains the only case against PACC operatives that has prospered in the courts.

• The killing of Wilfredo Aala, an overseas contract worker, during a raid conducted by around 200 PACC agents in Tanauan, Batangas on October 12,1992.

Evidence gathered by the House committee showed that Aala was killed in a clear case of mistaken identity. The PACC was looking for members of the Galicia gang, identified as the killers of two teenage kidnap victims, Kenneth Go and Myron Uy.

In a June 15, 1993 report, the committee said, "Aala was never given the chance to identify himself nor to answer questions. The victim, still dazed from sleep and wearing only a t-shirt and karsunsilyo, was dragged out of the house and summarily killed."

Although Lacson admitted to the committee that the man had been mistakenly killed, he released Aala's name to the media as Wilson Galicia, head of the kidnap gang.

It was an attempt to save face. Earlier, PACC agents had bungled the kidnapping case. In their zeal to pursue the real kidnappers during the payoff, the two Chinese-Filipino teenagers were killed by the gangsters. To make things up to an outraged Chinese community, PACC operatives fanned out to Batangas, killing the hapless Aala. (The real Galicia was later arrested by the PACC.)

In both the Pueda and Aala cases, the House committee scolded the PACC for the "high-handed manner by which the operations were conducted, the unwarranted use of force, and morally unconscionable summary execution and wanton disregard for the constitutional and human rights of the victims."

The committee report recommended that the PACC agents be prosecuted for murder and Lacson tried as an as accessory.

Both cases, however, were never filed because Estrada worked out an amicable settlement by paying Pl.5 million to the relatives of the lawyer Matro, who was killed with the Pueda brothers. Aala's kin were given P500,000. Both have since withdrawn their cases against PACC.

Estrada issued personal checks in both instances. Later, he admitted the payments but denied that the money came from his own account. The source, he said, was the discretionary fund of the Office of the President for victims of crossfire.

• The murder, in cold blood of Rafael Almero and the wounding of three other civilians on January 11, 1995. PACC agents led by Chief Inspector Wilfredo Reyes sprayed bullets on the four men's car. Later, PACC's official report said, the agents blocked the vehicle to arrest Almero, who was wanted for robbery. Almero, said the report, emerged from the car with an Armalite aimed at the lawmen, prompting them to open fire.

But a report by the NBI National Capital Region Department signed by its chief, Salvador Ranin, on February 20 established that the victims did not put up any resistance and that they were unarmed when the PACC operatives shot them. The NBI also found that three of the victims, including Almero himself, had no criminal records. The NBI recommended the filing of charges against Reyes and 10 other PACC agents for the ambush.

The death of Carmelito Calasan, also known as Michael Evasco, allegedly of the Kuratong Baleleng gang, on January 17, 1995. Calasan, who was reportedly handcuffed, supposedly died in a firefight in a motel, when he tried to grab his police escort's Armalite.

According to Lacson's report, Calasan, armed with a grenade-launcher, was about to board a motorcycle when he was arrested by PACC agents. He attempted to flee, prompting them to shoot him in the buttocks, the report said. Later, he was brought to the Queensland Motel for interrogation.

But the CHR asked: Why was he brought to a motel instead of a hospital after he was shot? How could anyone in handcuffs fire an Armalite?

Later, at about 1:30 a.m., Calasan's corpse was dumped by PACC agents at the Cebu City Medical Center. The body bore no identification and it was not until the following night did Lacson reveal who it was.

The CHR in Cebu, who directed investigator Eddie Gurrea to conduct the probe, concluded that the man was murdered.

There are however, tell-tale signs that the country's law-enforcement darling may be falling out of grace. Citing overlapping functions of law enforcement agencies, Malacañang issued Executive Order (EO) 221 in June, clipping the PACC's powers and disbanding its task forces.

In the directive, the president took note of "public disappointment over the handling of the government's anti-crime operations and its failure to stem the tide of criminality."

Ironically, it was Ramos himself who allowed PACC to create its own task forces and conduct operations independent of other anti-crime agencies. EO 221 is merely a restatement of EO 3 which created the PACC as a coordinating body.

"If the PACC sticks to its original mission, the PACC may still succeed," said Rep. Bonifacio Gillego citing the need for a coordinated, synchronized campaign against crime.

But the problem, some critics say, does not lie with the commission's functions, but with the choice of a politician to head an anti-crime body. "Naming a politician to such a sensitive post is the number one flaw in the government's anti-crime drive," said a senior defense official who, like other critics, believe that the PACC is being used as Estrada's political and propaganda base.

"The Vice-President was never serious about fighting crime," said Col. Reynaldo Berroya, once Estrada's chief henchman. "His main concern was projecting himself to the media."

"The only solution is to abolish the PACC altogether," said Manuel Morato, chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and one of Estrada's staunchest critics. "The agency has not solved the problem of criminality. In fact, many of its agents are themselves involved in crime."