By: Francis Allan L. Angelo

IF ILOILO City Kagawad Plaridel Nava is to be believed, there was something amiss with the trips of two National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) members several days before the councilor was criminally charged for the Bali Hotel bombing last year.

In a press conference in his office, Nava said he received information that NBI regional director Elfren Meneses checked in at the posh Edsa Shangri-la Hotel four days before the case against him was filed.

Nava also revealed that Rojun Hosillos, NBI senior investigator, went to Boracay Island with Meneses for an undisclosed purpose.

Nava said the trips may have something to do with the criminal case filed by the NBI against him Thursday afternoon.

The NBI charged Nava, SPO2 Rex Delos Reyes and Gilbert “Rambo” Monteverde/Demonteverde before the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office for violation of Article 324 of the Revised Penal Code.

The case is relative to the bombing of Bali Hotel in downtown Iloilo City last September 5, 2011.

Nava said Bali Hotel owner Rommel Ynion may have influenced the NBI to file the case against him after he refused the businessman’s P30-million offer in exchange of scuttling the group of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

The councilor said Ynion also wants Mabilog to admit publicly that he is a homosexual as part of the P30-million deal which was offered two or three weeks before the criminal case was filed.

While he has no proof that will back his suspicions that Ynion influenced the NBI, Nava said he asked help from the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, which supervises the NBI, to investigate the Boracay trip.

“Based on the information I got, Meneses, Ynion, Manuel Mejorada and Paul Ledesma met at Shangri-la Hotel. And Ynion used his credit card to pay for their accommodations. The investigation will shed light on who really paid for the trip and accommodations of Meneses and Hosillos to Metro Manila and Boracay,” he added.

Mejorada is the former Iloilo provincial administrator who writes for Ynion’s newspaper The News Today. He also represented Ynion in the Bali Hotel case.

Paul Ledesma, former regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-6), is believed to be a close friend of Ynion.

Meneses, who signed the complaint against Nava, Delos Reyes and Demonteverde, and Hosillos who investigated key witnesses in the case could not be reached for comments.

Ynion earlier denied offering P30 million to Nava saying he would rather spend the money on his girlfriend.

Ynion said he only advised Nava to point to the mastermind of the Bali Hotel bombing if he is indicted of the crime.

COUNCILOR Plaridel Nava says the NBI was influenced to file a criminal case against him.