Thursday, June 07, 2007 Cop yields ‘to prove innocence’ in 2 slays
THE policeman tagged in the twin killings of a moneylender and her secretary surrendered to the top official of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 after learning that an arrest warrant was issued against him.
SPO1 Mateo Yanson, who is detailed at the Regional Headquarters Security and Service Group (RHSSG), turned himself over to PRO 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr. past 9 a.m. yesterday.
A handcuffed Yanson later went to the sala of Regional Trial Court Judge Ramon Codilla, who issued the warrant last Tuesday, to pick up the commitment order against him. His wife accompanied him.
Both appeared calm and answered reporters’ questions.
Yanson is accused of killing Pilar R. Hernandez and her secretary Wivina Pancho inside the PRH Lending Investors Inc. on T. Padilla Ext. in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City last Sept. 9.
Yanson said he surrendered “to send the message that I am innocent of the crime. My conscience is clear.”
He believes the evidence against him is weak.
But Hernandez’s widower Jacob, in a telephone interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said witnesses had identified Yanson as the perpetrator.
“Dili siya makapamakak ana. Bakakon na (He can’t deny it. He’s a liar),” Jacob said.
The policeman is now detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC), where he is kept inside an isolation cell.
Yanson said he will ask his legal counsel Danilo Yap to file a motion to get him out of the BBRC.
He said his life is in danger inside the facility because he had sent several lawbreakers, especially drug-related offenders, there when he was still an operative of the Cebu City Vice Control Section.
He would like instead to be transferred to the detention cell of PRO 7.
But if Yanson files a motion to transfer from the BBRC, Jacob said he will object in court.
SPO1 Jay Yballe, Homicide Section chief investigator, yesterday led a team of policemen to serve Yanson’s warrant past 10 a.m. inside the office of Supt. Melvin Gayotin, regional investigation and detective management division head.
When they arrived, Yanson was already waiting for them to turn him over to the court.
Yanson said it had been his plan to surrender once a warrant was issued against him.
He first called up acting Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador about his plan. Comendador, however, advised him to surrender instead to Alarcio, considering that Yanson is assigned at the RHSSG.
Yanson considers the charges he is facing as the most difficult trial of his life, as it has greatly affected his family, especially his children.
And even though Yanson is behind bars, Gayotin’s office will continue to resolve the administrative charges against the policeman.
Gayotin will also submit a report to the regional human resources division to place Yanson under “suspended service,” which paves the way for the termination of his salary while he is in prison. (JST/KNT)
