Republic of the Philippines.

)
City of Zamboanga...)S.S.
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COUNTER-AFFIDAVIT

I, ABDUL-LATIF S. TALANGHATI of legal age, married, Filipino

citizen and a native of Luuk,Tungkil,Sulu, Philippines, after having been
duly sworn to in accordance with law hereby depose and say that:
1. I am one of the Respondents in NPS Docket No. IX-06-INQ-16J-
00980 for alleged Violation of Republic Act 9516 otherwise known as
the Illegal Possession of explosives/materials, pending before the
Office of the City Prosecutor of Zamboanga City. I received of the
Subpoena of the Honorable Office dated 10 October 2016. In
compliance with the Subpoena of the Honorable Office, I hereby
submit my Counter-Affidavit and in support hereof, it is most
respectfully alleges that:
2. Foremost, I vehemently deny and condemn the baseless and
unfounded accusations leveled against me by SPO1 ROWEN BAIS
and PO3 RICARDO BEJEMIL considering that at that time of my
arrest, my constitutional rights were violated and that I was not even
engaged in the illegal possession of explosives/materials, in which
the complainants allegedly confiscated in my possession. The truth of
the whole incident is narrated hereunder as follows to wit;
3. I am a retired elementary teacher in Sulu, a father of five (5) and a
bonafide member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Font (MILF). My
family and I were natives of Tungkil,Sulu. We evacuated to Basilan,
Moh. Adul Brgy Sinunggol for the safety of my family considering that
our home town that time was in disaster of war. We lived in Moh.
Adul, Bgry. Sinunggol, Basilan for more than eight (8) years. But
because Basilan now specifically where our residence is located is in
war commotion, we sold our house and thereafter sailed our way to
Zamboanga City;
4. We arrived this city on 6 October 2016. Our main intention is to live
peacefully in a place where my family will get an assurance of their
 safety considering that I can no longer protect them physically at this
age (64 years old);
5. Since we have no place to stay, we have no choice but to temporarily
settle in an abandoned former Maritime Police Headquarters located
at Barangay Sta. Barbara, this city which was converted to an
evacuation center with my wife and my son;
6. On or about 9:30 pm of 07 October 2016, I decided to sleep ahead
and headed my way up to the second floor of the said evacuation
center. I was awakened by a very loud door banging and to my
surprise everyone inside the room were in commotion and several
unidentified armed men forced themselves to enter the room where
we and other evacuees were sleeping;
7. They ordered all the males to direct ourselves outside the room. I was
only in my blanket that time which we traditionally call malong. I
immediately wore my longsleeves and my pair of shorts. We were
told to lay in a planking position on the floor. I was lying on my back
that time considering that at my age it is hard for me to lie plank;
8. To my surprise without any hesitation the unidentified armed men
handcuffed me and my son and left the other males be. I asked them
why and what are our charges. But my question was left hanging. I
was very worried for my familys safety since we just have arrived and
are new in this city;
9. I asked them if there is a warrant of arrest against us and they
responded in affirmation and promised us that said document will be
presented to us when we arrived at the place of destination;
10. On or about 11:00 that night we were brought to a police station
like place via a van. I cannot anymore distinguish the color or the
details considering the lighting and the capability of my old eyes. I
saw a large sized letters and a number on the wall which spells
RECOM9. I again wondered where we were that time. We were told
to stay put inside the vehicle;

1. The police officers then transported us to Central Police Station this

City, they ordered us to sit on the bench. Thereafter ABS-CBN
reporters and their staffs arrived and asked kayo po ba ang nahuli?
 Pwede po bang kunan kayo ng kaunting pahayag? in English more
or less means are you the one who were arrested? may we ask for
your permission to get a statement? . We responded in affirmation.
Thereafter it is the ABS-CBN group who showed us the confiscated
items which were allegedly found under our possession which I
strongly deny considering that we have no knowledge of all of those
alleged pieces of evidence. The police officers never showed us
anything with regards to our arrest such as the evidence that were
allegedly confiscated under our possession and the Warrant of arrest
that we requested to confirm that our arrest was legal. The police
officers told us that there exist no warrant of arrest at all and that the
alleged confiscated items were found in a trash can under the stairs
of the said evacuation center;
11. We were allegedly members of the Abu Sayaff Group ( ASG )
as per verbal information from the police station. The truth and in fact
is we are bonafide members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Font
(MILF).
12. The police authorities brought us to Zamboanga City Medical
Center. After the Physical Examination then brought us back to
Central Police Station this City and directed us behind bars;
13.

"Provided, however, That a temporary, incidental, casual, harmless, or transient possession

or control of any explosive or incendiary device, without the knowledge of its existence or its
explosive or incendiary character, shall not be a violation of this Section.

"Provided, Further, That the temporary, incidental, casual, harmless, or transient possession
or control of any explosive or incendiary device for the sole purpose of surrendering it to the
proper authorities shall not be a violation of this Section.

"Provided, finally, That in addition to the instances provided in the two (2) immediately
preceeding paragraphs, the court may determine the absence of the intent to possess,
otherwise referred to as'animus possidendi", in accordance with the facts and circumstances
of each case and the application of other pertinent laws, among other things, Articles 11 and
12 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended."