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Tuesday, November 04, 2003
I was playing basketball during ambush: Lao suspect
ONE of the two suspects in the killing of customs officials Eduardo “Wewe” Lao and Bennett Soreño denied he had a hand in the crime.
In a counter-affidavit submitted to the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office, Rustico Fernandez, an informal employee of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), said he was playing basketball at the time the officials were gunned down last July 24.
He also submitted affidavits of three other CIIS employees, who were allegedly playing basketball with him at the Sambag 1 sports complex.
Fernandez said he left the CIIS quarters along R. Landon St., Cebu City around 5:30 p.m. last July 24 to bring other basketball players to Sambag 1 for a tryout.
“Among my passengers were our then CIIS chief Felix Espino and Allan Obrar. Apart from them were players who were not CIIS personnel but who wanted to join the team,” Fernandez’s counter-affidavit said.
His co-accused, Juan Jesus Vergel de Dios, has asked the prosecutor’s office to dismiss the case against him because the complainant’s witnesses failed to prove his involvement in the killing.
Both Fernandez and de Dios are detained at the Cebu City jail.
Assistant City Prosecutor Victor Laborte will conduct a clarificatory hearing on Friday to determine probable cause to charge de Dios and Fernandez for the killing of Lao and Soreño.
Fernandez said it was past 6 p.m. of that day that Espino received a call about the shooting incident near their office.
He added that they did not know yet who were the victims and assailants.
“I stayed at the sports complex until we ended the tryout at 7 p.m. It is impossible for me to have been one of the alleged gunmen in the Lao murder case. I hereby declare that I did not have any participation whatsoever in said incident,” Fernandez said in his counter-affidavit. GN
(November 4, 2003 issue)
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