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Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Tupas promises cash reward to informants on salvage cases
By Ruby P. Silubrico
ILOILO Governor Niel D. Tupas is willing to give cash reward to those who can give information that could lead to the arrest of those responsible for killing two salvage victims found separately in Concepcion and San Rafael last week.
"I'm willing to give a cash reward to those who could inform us on who killed two persons in Concepcion and San Rafael," Tupas said during a radio interview Monday.
Luis Espina, a former construction worker of the R. Carnaje Engineering and Construction Co., who was found dead at Sitio Cabungaan, Barangay Aripdip, San Rafael, Iloilo on August 29.
Last Thursday, in Concepcion, an unidentified man was burned and dumped on a grassy area in Barangay Bakhauan Norte, Concepcion, Iloilo.
No clues
Police investigators still had no clues on these gruesome murders that took place in the towns of San Rafael and Concepcion, Iloilo these last two weeks but Iloilo Tupas is not about to allow them to just give up and file these cases under the label "unsolved".
In a two-hour conference with senior police officials Monday, Tupas expressed concern about the lack of progress in these murder cases primarily as a result of the failure of witnesses to step out into the open and provide investigators with clues as to what really happened.
"We cannot allow such high-profile murder cases to happen and leave it without even a clue as to the perpetrators," Tupas said.
Present during the meeting were Senior Supt. Efren S. Quintos, Iloilo provincial director, Supt. Cornelio Defensor, deputy provincial director, Supt. Roberto Nufable and the chiefs of police of Concepcion and San Rafael.
Police Inspector Gilbert Archide, Concepcion police chief, said the identity of the murder victim who was burned to death could not yet be established. "Nobody has come forward to check whether the victim is a relative of theirs," Archide told Tupas.
An interesting fact about the unidentified victim is that his sex organ was rigid and showed traces of semen, an indication that he was engaged in sexual activity when his attacker hit him with a hard object in the head, Archide said.
"This was found by the medico-legal officer, Supt. Owen Libaquin," he reported to Tupas.
The killers of the burned victim used six old tires for an L-300 van doused with gasoline to set his body ablaze, he said.
"There are signs this was a crime of passion," Quintos said.
Senior Insp. Nestor Baylosis, San Rafael police chief, said that nobody has claimed the body of Espina.
Espina was earlier identified as Luis Espinosa based on the information provided by previous employers such as Engineer Romy Carnaje and the wife of John Gallego in Guimaras, where he had worked for a short while earlier this year.
Baylosis said the victim's brother-in-law, Rodolfo de la Cruz, made the identification based on the photograph found in his ID card.
(September 6, 2005 issue)
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