WHAT THE PUBLIC KNOWS: (1) A former Philippine Army sergeant, identified as Fausto Edgar Peralta, who supervised a security agency in Laguna, was arrested Tuesday, December 8, in Cabuyao, Laguna. Peralta was not identified as mastermind or gunman.
(2) Peralta and five other suspects were charged Thursday, December 10, with the November 23 murder of Atty. Joey Luis Wee who was gunned down as he was walking into his office building in Cebu City. Of the five
others charged, two were identified while the three others were named "John Does" in the complaint.
Peralta was turned over also last December 10 to the custody of NBI-7, which requested his arrest. The Department of Justice news release said an "NBI-local police task force" was formed last November 27, which presumably was credited for busting the case open.
(3) The number of people involved in the killing -- some of whom were from out of town -- the use of a four-wheel vehicle and a motorcycle, and the intensive surveillance on Atty. Wee indicated the participation of a mastermind or financer.
If the NBI-police already know the brains and the motive, they are not publicizing it yet. The two "John Does" in the complaint are still unknown elements in the puzzle.
WHO ORDERED IT, WHY. The clue so far given by the NBI as the cause of the killing is that it was "work-related": Wee's job as a lawyer must have prompted the execution.
Before Peralta's arrest, people speculated on his high-profile cases, more notably his defense of DPWH officials who last September 20 were acquitted by the Sandiganbayan of corruption in the 2007 purchase of multimillion-peso decorative lamps in Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City. Only three of the 11 public works and highways officials and the lampposts supplier were convicted and meted jail sentences. The others walked.
To many court watchers, that would hardly be a cause for contracting a killing of the lawyer. The case and the motive could be something else. To most people, the story is not complete, the mystery is not solved until "whodunit" and "why" are answered.
CLEARED, SOLVED BUT... Under police procedure, which presumably is also applied to other law enforcement agencies on the matter of collating crime statistics, a case is considered "solved" when:
[1] the offenders are identified;
[2] there is sufficient evidence to charge the offenders;
[3] the offenders are taken into custody; and
[4] the offenders are charged before the prosecutors or other appropriate jurisdiction.
PNP's Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management spelled out the requirements in an order dated June 20, 2016 (citing Napolcom MC #94-017).
Under the said rules, if the offender cannot be arrested or charged for reasons "beyond the control" of the police, such as when the victim refuses to prosecute or the offender dies or absconds, the case is still considered solved.
The case is considered "cleared" when at least one offender is identified, there's sufficient evidence, and he is charged. A July 5, 2018 directive amended the rules.
Neither NBI-7 nor the local police has officially declared the Wee case cleared or solved. At least, it has not publicly said so. But technically, it may be considered solved, or at least cleared. What the public hopes for though is the total solution.
COMPLETE SOLUTION. In the public mind, total solution comes when he mastermind, the gunmen and the accomplices are identified and prosecuted -- and the motive is ascertained and disclosed along with the damning evidence.
The Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar already rejoiced over the arrest, even as it talked of justice and due process, without however demanding for identification of mastermind and the reason for Wee's execution.
Often, if the murderer-for-hire falls, the hirer gets away and is not even known, along with the reason for the killing.
WHAT IBP MAY PUSH. Brains and motive are crucial elements, not just to the watchers or "usiseros" but more usefully to the law profession that lost across the country already more than 50 lives to murderers. Atty. Wee was the 53rd victim in a long list that includes practicing lawyers, judges and prosecutors since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office on June 30, 2016.
Lawyers and the IBP need to know why they are frequent targets of lethal violence so they can help protect themselves individually and collectively.
IBP, along with the public, can push for higher efficiency of law enforcers in the solution of murders. Not just lawyers are being killed: people in business, public officials, often openly, in daylight. The law enforcers can reduce the impunity if they solve or clear a lot more murders than those committed and likely to end up in the cold cases file.
They can do it, as shown in the killing of Wee in Cebu and the November 17 murder of Atty. Eric Jay Magcamit in Palawan. Nine suspects, including a police sergeant, were charged in the Palawan case.
A politician said the police and the NBI can clear and solve murders if they put their mind to it. The IBP should be interested to why many times they don't.