Witness: Gunpowder nitrates found in slain suspect's hand

The right hand of the cadaver of snatching suspect Omar Patiño was positive of gunpowder nitrates- an indication that he could have fired a gun during an incident on July 15, 2003 when PO3 Manuel Sarcol was also killed.

This was the testimony of the defense's lone witness Myrna Areola, chief of the PNP Crime Lab, who yesterday cited the chemistry report of her assistant, forensic officer Mutchit Salinas, from the paraffin tests conducted after the incident.

Salinas was supposed to be put on the witness stand but she was in Cagayan de Oro City for some training.

The defense line or argument was that SPO4 Juanito Pajantoy could not have killed Sarcol and that Patiño was armed at the time, thus had engaged in a shootout and may have hit Sarcol as a result.

Ombudsman-Military prosecutor Macaundas Hadjinasul however asked Areola if nitrates could also be found in other things like tobacco, fertilizer, and explosives, among others.

Areola agreed but confirmed that the nitrates in Patiño's hand were different from those usually found among cigarette smokers. She said these could not be washed off because these embed on the skin and remain there within the next 72 hours.

But a person, standing about three feet away from another person firing a gun, could also possibly obtain gunpowder nitrates, Areola agreed with the prosecution.

Hadjinasul later questioned the identity of the cadaver. "I have no doubt of Omar Patiño's identity. But the cadaver, in the paraffin test, bears the name of a certain Felipe Obido."

Defense counsel Clarence Paul Oaminal said name Obido attached to the cadaver by Crime Lab personnel during the test was only an assumed name or alias.

He said the National Bureau of Investigation admitted that Obido was an alias, and that regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda earlier clarified the cadaver belonged to Patiño.

Patiño's family had also confirmed in the past that Patiño was the real name of Obido, said Oaminal.

After Areola's testimony, the defense rested its case prompting Judge Ireneo Gako to order it to file on Wednesday a memorandum of its petition for bail.

Pajantoy, is currently detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center for the deaths of Sarcol and Patño.