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Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Prov’l fiscals out of LBP Bogo case
The Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor has inhibited itself from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Bogo robbery in band case.
Regional State Prosecutor Antonio Arellano yesterday approved Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba’s request for inhibition, and appointed Assistant City Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane to take over.
He created a panel composed of two other Assistant City Prosecutors—Lineth Lapinid and Mario Edgardo Montenegro—to handle the preliminary investigation on the case. Gubalane will lead the panel.
Petralba received Arella-no’s memorandum on the inhibition yesterday afternoon.
In an interview, Petralba said she will also seek the inhibition of her office if or once the incident is elevated to the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Linked
“Our assigned prosecutor in Bogo town (Ivy Macias) is receiving allowance from the municipal government. We don’t want people making assumptions,” she said.
Petralba was counsel for former congressman Celestino Martinez Jr. when he ran for governor during the last elections.
And, while no proof has been submitted, one of the accused in the robbery case has impleaded Bogo Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III as the mastermind, an allegation the mayor denied.
Joel Sumabong, the alleged robbery mastermind, surrendered to the police last Feb. 6, nearly six months after allegedly running away with P9.4 million from the Land Bank of the Philippines branch in Bogo, Cebu.
Sumabong, 32, confirmed he participated in the crime but said he only served as lookout and didn’t get a centavo from the heist. He pointed to the Bogo mayor as the brains behind the robbery.
Sumabong also implicated an active policeman and a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 confidential agent.
A total of 12 people, most of them John Does, have been formally impleaded in the crime.
The NBI has custody of one of the accused, Henry Cuerda, who is now being considered into the Department of Justice (DOJ) witness protection program. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 14, 2006 issue)
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