Sunday, May 25, 2008 Lawyer's slay a priority case for NBI; PRO 7 director leads police probe
THE murder of lawyer Richard Sison is now a priority case for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7.
NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos said the agency is ready to provide technical support to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), which has created a special task force for the incident.
“We conducted the autopsy and the report is already there,” he said.
Despite this development, Task Force Sison will continue with its investigation. It has released a cartographic sketch of three men, one of whom was the shooter.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Ronald Roderos told reporters yesterday the investigators are stepping up its investigation and all the sources needed have been checked to speed up resolution of the case.
“We will proceed (with the investigation). We will conduct parallel investigation. We have leads, information,” he said, adding that they are willing to share their notes with the NBI 7.
Case conference
Roderos, who is personally supervising the investigation, said last Friday that the CCPO and the regional intelligence and legal divisions held a conference to discuss the case, including the manhunt operation initiated against the suspects.
He, however, declined to give further details about the manhunt.
On the possibility that police could be behind the killing, Roderos said it is a speculation that needs to be verified first.
“We have to check that. We operate based on evidence,” he said.
He assured Sison’s family that the police are professional investigators who are doing their best so that justice would be served.
De Lemos, for his part, confirmed having received instructions from NBI Director Nestor Mantaring to prioritize the case.
Family’s request
NBI head agent Ernesto Macabare, in an interview Friday, confirmed having received the letter request from the Sison family.
He said the case will be assigned to the agency’s more senior agents.
The victim’s family, represented by his three children—Charisse Gwenevere, Cathleen May and Richard Dino—formally asked for the NBI’s assistance Friday morning.
But even before the request was filed, the NBI conducted the autopsy.
NBI medical examiner Rene Cam said Sison was shot four times in the head, with the slug fracturing his skull and tearing through his brain tissue.
Two of the bullets exited the right side of his cranium. The other two almost went through as well, but these lodged in the soft tissue and were recovered by doctors in the hospital.
A fourth bullet hit Sison in the left side of his neck and tore through his neck muscles and blood vessels.
Sison, who had handled several high-profile cases in Cebu that included serving as the defense counsel of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza on the controversial lampposts deal for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last year, died in an ambush at the corner of V. Sotto St. and M.J. Cuenco Ave., Tinago, Cebu City last Wednesday.
He died of multiple gunshot wounds in the head. (KNR/JST)
