Ballistic chief: One gun was used in slay

The four spent shells recovered from the place, where lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco was killed, came from only one firearm, according to the head of the PNP Crime Laboratory Ballistic Branch yesterday.

Chief Inspector Zosimo Duyogan testified, in yesterday's hearing of the murder case, that ballistics tests on the spent bullets showed these were fired from a caliber-.45 gun.

He later admitted however he did not examine the supposedly used gun because it was not turned over to him for examination.

In the subsequent cross-examination, defense counsel Orlando Salatandre, Jr. lost his temper due to Duyogan's allegedly irresponsible answers prompting the lawyer to ask the court to put the witness in jail.

Another prosecution witness Insp. Edgardo Lemiso, head of the Scene of the Crime Operation, testified his men only informed him, through text message, they are going to the residence of the slain female lawyer to conduct an investigation on the incident.

Lemiso admitted he gave no orders for his men to proceed to the crime scene but he said there have been times they go to the scene even without his orders.

Meanwhile, Salatandre asked the court to return Eddie Ardita, one of the defendants of the case, to his previous detention place at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center from his present cell at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Ardita was earlier moved from BBRC to CIDG because of an alleged threat to his life after his lawyer petitioned the court to make him state witness.

Salatandre argued Ardita is not qualified to become a state witness and thus should be moved back to the BBRC.

Ardita, Nestor Carrol and Army M/Sgt. Heracleo Rallestan were indicted as alleged conspirators in the killing of Yongco last October 11.

Yongco was then the private prosecutor in the parricide case against Ruben Ecleo Jr., the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association.

Michel Favila, a member of the PBMA, has been tagged as the alleged gunman of Yongco.