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Thursday, October 14, 2004
NBI, Arroyo pushed on lawyer's murder
CEBU CITY -- The pressure is on for law enforcers to solve the murder of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco, after Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 to get the assailants "whoever they may be."
On Thursday, an alliance of women's groups in Cebu will get a chance to discuss with President Arroyo the need to crack the Yongco case.
NBI 7 Director Reynaldo Esmeralda briefed the justice secretary in a meeting Wednesday in Manila about the status of the case.
For his part, PNP Chief Edgar Aglipay said that other motives in the lawyer's killing should not be discarded until the probe is thoroughly conducted.
"We need strong evidence to pin down the culprits. We must check other motives so we'll have an airtight case," Aglipay told radio dyLA.
Two days after Yongco, 38, was attacked at home, the Cebu City Council passed Wednesday a resolution denouncing the lawyer's murder. They also approved a posthumous commendation for her work, which included domestic violence cases.
The council also requested the NBI 7, the Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (CIDG) and the PNP "to expedite a thorough investigation and to immediately apprehend the mastermind, the killer and his accomplices."
Days prior to the murder, a stranger was seen near Yongco's residence, asking for information about the lawyer.
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 Chief Salvador Manga Jr., spokesman of the composite team investigating the death of Yongco, told reporters that the man who was said to be casing the household did not match descriptions of the gunman himself.
As for the gunman, Manga said a picture of him is now with the composite team. At least four witnesses and Yongco's husband Filemon confirmed the man in the photo was the assailant.
The NBI and the police are also pursuing a lead that the gunman is one of the personal bodyguards of former town mayor and religious group leader Ruben Ecleo Jr.
For now, Manga said they know that the suspect used to work in a government agency and is not from Cebu.
"Whoever is responsible, they should be charged in court," Justice Secretary Gonzalez told Sun.Star.
"The NBI must determine if the suspect was acting alone or was merely carrying out an order. But they must go in one direction with the police," added Gonzalez.
A housemaid of Yongco told the NBI 7 that she can identify the gunman if she sees him again.
The bureau's cartographic sketch of the suspect was based on the description of the housemaid who was at Yongco's roadside store when the shooting occurred at 8:45 a.m. last Monday.
The gunman took his time and waited until Yongco entered her office and no one was near the vicinity.
Yongco was shot in the cheek and neck.
In her four-page affidavit, the 18-year-old witness said she was at the store, along with Yongco's husband and a Tatay Cesar, when she heard four gunshots coming from the law office.
Yongco's office is just beside the store at the ground floor of her two-story house at the corner of Alcohol and Sikatuna Sts., Cebu City.
Moments later, the witness said she saw a man carrying a black pistol in his right hand walking fast toward a waiting motorcycle.
The motorcycle was parked at the roadside corner facing the Zapatera Elementary School, she said.
She described the man as 40 to 45 years old, about 80 to 85 kilos and wearing black leather shoes.
The witness, however, could not describe the face of the motorcycle driver because the latter had his back to the store.
She noted, though, that the driver had straight hair and was wearing a black jacket and black jeans.
The young witness also said the motorcycle resembled that of a Honda Wave model but she could not remember the color out of shock.
The two men, she said, sped off toward the direction of Zapatera Elementary School.
There was no backup vehicle, she added.
The housemaid also presumed that Filemon, who rushed to his wife's side, also saw the gunman.
But the NBI 7 has yet to get the statements of Filemon.
Filemon, also a lawyer, the victim's brother PO2 Nathaniel Sta. Ana and Zapatera Barangay Captain Frank Benedicto brought Yongco to the Perpetual Succour Hospital but she was declared dead at 9 a.m.
Yongco left behind three children, the youngest of whom is a three-year-old girl.
On Wednesday, Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo denounced the blatant murder of a fellow lawyer.
Carillo quoted Mayor Tomas Osmeņa, who said the City "will not take the crime sitting down. We are going to test the limits of the law as far as it will allow us to do so."
Councilors Edgardo Labella, Procopio Fernandez and Hilario Davide III, all lawyers, also expressed the "profoundest grief" of the Cebuano community for Yongco's death.
Representatives and officials of the Children's Legal Bureau, Commission for Welfare of Women and Children, Senior Citizens' Association and other advocates for women and children's rights and students filled the gallery during Carillo's speech.
The council also permitted the local Integrated Bar of the Philippines to march from the IBP building in Capitol to Fuente Osmeņa and hold an indignation rally at 2 p.m. tomorrow. (GC/GAC/JST)
(October 14, 2004 issue)
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