Saturday, May 24, 2008 Family of slain lawyer Richard Sison wants murder suspect prosecuted, jailed
THOUGH the family of the late lawyer Richard Sison has said they plan to seek the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in probing his death, this will not stop the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) from investigating the murder.
CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador, in a news conference yesterday, said they were duty-bound to investigate Sison’s death.
“There is no law here refraining us from conducting further investigation,” Comendador explained.
Based on his autopsy report, Sison, who was shot by motorcycle-riding men along M. J. Cuenco Ave., Barangay Tinago,
Cebu City last Wednesday morning, died due to the damage to his brain.
Dr. Rene Cam, medical examiner of the NBI 7, said Sison was hit four times on the head, with the slug fracturing his skull and tearing through his brain tissue.
Cause of death
“The damage to the brain was the cause of death,” Cam said.
Two of the bullets exited the right side of his cranium. The other two almost went through as well. These lodged in the soft
tissue and were recovered by doctors at the Chong Hua Hospital.
A fourth bullet hit Sison in the left side of his neck and tore through his neck muscles and the blood vessels.
“The assailant, based on the injuries noted on the body of the victim, was to the left of the victim; meaning the relative
position of the suspect is on the left side of the victim,” Cam explained.
Cam said the shots were fired by the suspect in a relatively close proximity although there were no powder burns or tattooing near the entrance wounds
“There were abrasions noted on the left side of the face. It was because of the splinters from the broke glass from the car window,” he said.
The NBI is taking part in the investigation over the lawyer’s death.
The victim’s family, represented by his three children—Charisse Gwenevere, Cathleen May and Richard Dino, formally asked for the NBI’s assistance yesterday morning.
“We are the children of the late atty. Richard Sison. We are still shocked of the incident and we cry for justice. We pray that justice be served and that those responsible for the death of our father will be prosecuted and put behind bars,” they said in a prepared statement dated May 21 but received by the NBI yesterday.
“We will coordinate with the police kasi sila naman ang nauna (They already started conducting an investigation). Baka naman mayroon na silang lead na maganda, then mabulabog pa (They might be pursuing a good lead already). Kung wala naman, gagawa tayo ng parallel investigation (If they have no leads yet, we could conduct a parallel investigation). Of course, in close coordination with them,” he said.
Dina, the late lawyer’s wife, said they will be more active in following up the case once his body has been interred.
She, together with the entire family, friends, Sison’s colleagues at the Lapu-Lapu City Hall, where he was a consultant, were at the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel in Mandaue City last night, where Sison’s body laid in state in full military honors.
The lawyer held the rank of major of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Army Reserve Command and was the commanding officer of the First Cebu Ready Reserve Battalion.
Comendador said he is yet to receive confirmation regarding the family’s request but said he has talked to NBI 7’s Ernesto Macabare, who informed him that the relatives paid him a visit at the NBI office.
He said that only an order from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 will compel them to stop investigating the case.
However, he welcomed the move and said that it did not matter which agency led in the investigation because they all had the same objective: to solve the case.
He said it was better to share their notes and pool all their resources if only to find the lawyer’s killer.
As to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena’s earlier statement tagging a police officer, Comendador admitted that was one of the initial motives that came up during the initial stage of their investigation.
“As to the proximity to the truth, without a very clear motive, we cannot say yet. Suffice it to say, we are taking due cognizance of that report,” Comendador said.
He explained that they arrived at this angle because Sison was representing clients who faced drug cases and that some arresting officers had faced counter charges.
“This could be the reason but we have not zeroed in on a particular motive yet,” he said.
Police also recovered Sison’s cellular phone but they are yet to study its contents.
Comendador said the phone was “soaked in blood” and that they needed technical assistance before they began exploring it or else they might delete or destroy potential evidence.
They plan to coordinate with the National Transmission Commission in retrieving text messages from the cellular phone.
Last Thursday, Comendador had said they were closing in on the gunman.
But yesterday, he admitted they hit a snag after a person who closely resembled the person in the sketch was not identified by the witness.
“This is the hard part of investigation. We have to eliminate something,” he said.
A second person was picked up yesterday after someone told police that the person in the cartographic sketch resembled a police asset.
Arnold Polot, former asset of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau and who now acts as an informant of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, was picked up at 4 p.m. yesterday.
However, a witness who was at the crime scene said it was not Polot who shot Sison and he was released at 4:15 p.m.
Polot told radio dyHP yesterday that it was the camp of Washington Oyao who must have floated his name.
This was because they arrested his father Paquito in a buy bust last February and then later arrested Washington and his niece Janessa for allegedly bribing the police for Paquito’s release.
The Oyaos of Lapu-Lapu City were Sison’s clients.
The snags did not seem to affect Comendador, however, as he revealed that they have a lot of information pouring in and that the task force he created has been doing the legwork to verify everything they have received.
Asked if he was not worried that the NBI would come up with completely different results in their investigation, Comendador believes the NBI and his men are professional enough and is confident they will share their information. He said the worst thing that could happen was if the police and the NBI had different results.
A case conference was held at the PRO 7 yesterday morning and the task force was assured of support from the PRO 7 and national support units. Another case conference followed in the afternoon.
The CCPO currently has six “credible” witnesses and was told that another one was willing to testify.
“What we need now is the identity of the gunman,” he said. (MEA/KNR)
