Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Designer slay witnesses placed on tight security By Maricar Aranas And Jhonggie Rumol
THE Philippine National Police (PNP) station placed witnesses of the Sammy Villagonzalo slay under tight security.
Local fashion designer Sammy Villagonzalo and his helper Marlon Soreno were killed in October 2002.
The closed-in security followed the death of former security agency supervisor Antonio Patron in Barangay Bantayan.
Investigators believed Patron was mistaken by the three gunmen to be one of the witnesses to the brutal murder of Villagonzalo and his helper two years ago.
Police Supt. Constanino Barot, Jr., chief of police, said the witnesses had been concerned of their safety and their families as well.
The witnesses however assured to testify on the Villagonzalo killing.
Meanwhile, a close friend of the murder victim, Manolet Teves, said the suspects had escorted some of the local beauties in one of the city's past Santacruzan activities.
The suspects included Joel Orot, Lloyd Edward Abella, and Marlon Reyes, all in their 20's.
Only Orot and Abella appeared at the preliminary investigation. Reyes is believed to be in Manila.
Teves, a member of the City Tourism Council responsible for the festival, attended the first preliminary hearing of the double murder case Tuesday at the city prosecutors' office.
He said he was shocked to learn that the suspects were young men who had participated in city affairs and were Villagonzalo's models in past fashion shows.
But Teves hopes the suspects were not the perpetrators.
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