Friday, March 23, 2007 Mayor’s accuser takes robbery admission back
A SUSPECT recanted yesterday his earlier statements and told the court he has nothing to do with the robbery that lost the Land Bank of the Philippines branch in Bogo town some P9.4 million in 2005.
During the pre-trial conference at Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12, Joel Sumabong’s lawyer disclosed that his client will introduce “general denial” as his defense.
Lawyer Salvador Solima also told the court they are not admitting the presence of an affidavit of Sumabong, in which he allegedly confessed his participation in the robbery.
But his co-accused, Henry Cuerda, admitted the presence of an affidavit where he stated it was Sumabong who planned the robbery.
Cuerda’s lawyer, Benjo Luther Macion, disclosed that he already talked with the prosecution, who told him they will file a pleading to discharge Cuerda as an accused so he can become a state witness.
Cuerda, a guard of Land Bank, admitted he participated in several clandestine meetings with Sumabong prior to the robbery.
Cuerda now stays at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 together with his wife and two children.
The other accused—dismissed Army man Joseph Ancajas, Dindo Ancero, Efren Biladas and Isagani Chiko—told the court they will rely on denial and alibi for their defense.
Earlier, Sumabong had admitted to participating in the robbery.
He even tagged Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez III as the brains, an accusation the mayor denied. Martinez said these were part of a smear campaign to damage his and his family’s public service record.
Ancero, for his part, earlier tagged Martinez as the financier while Sumabong, whom he described as the mayor’s bodyguard, gave the instructions prior to the heist last Aug. 2, 2005.
But later, Ancero retracted his statements, and insisted he never linked Martinez to the robbery. (KNT)
