Prosecutor summons driver again regarding rob-slay of moneylender

The Cebu City Prosecutor's Office has invited once again the driver of slain moneylender Pilar Hernandez for the final clarificatory hearing on January 23 because it was him who claimed that before the victim was found dead, he saw SPO1 Mateo Yanson inside the victim's office.

Assistant Cebu City prosecutor Patrick Osorio is hoping that Alfonso Diquit would attend the scheduled clarificatory hearing. He was invited to appear during the scheduled clarificatory hearing of the case last December 18, 2006, but failed to show up.

There were speculations that Diquit refused to appear for a clarificatory hearing of the case because he was identified in the summon as Alfonso Diquit, while earlier media reports quoted him as Alfonso Evangelista.

"Importante kaayo nga ang drayber sa biktima ma-subject og clarificatory hearing kay ang mga ebidensya sa kapolisan pulos ra g'yod mga circumstantial," Osorio told The FREEMAN yesterday.

Yanson together with SPO1 Elmo Rosales and civilian asset Troy Maque Diago were named suspects in the killing of Hernandez and her secretary, Wivina Pancho, who were shot inside the PRH Lending Investors, Inc. in T. Padilla Street last September 9.

Diago was included in the complaint because it was him who allegedly gave to Yanson the death weapon - a 9 mm. pistol owned by a female police officer - while Rosales was the one who returned the gun to Diago days after Hernandez and Pancho were killed.

The owner of the firearm reportedly tasked Diago to look for a buyer of her gun. And that Yanson took the gun from Diago because he has a friend who wished to buy a firearm. But later said his friend has changed his mind.

Diquit told the police that when he arrived at the office of her employer in the morning of September 9, he recognized Yanson as the person who was waiting for Hernandez.

He left the office after Hernandez ordered him to get something from the house. When he came back a few minutes later, he found his employer and her secretary lifeless.

Osorio also summoned Superintendent Zosimo Duyogan of the PNP Crime Laboratory Service because it was him who conducted the ballistics examination of the slug taken from the victim's body and the 9 mm. pistol that Diago reportedly gave to Yanson a few days before the incident.

All three suspects strongly denied any involvement to the crime, but both Yanson and Rosales have been preventively suspended already from active service until January 27 pending the results of the preliminary investigation.

If the two policemen are acquitted, they will be entitled to back wages and benefits from the Philippine National Police.

Osorio hopes that he could immediately resolve the case within 30 days after the final clarificatory hearing on January 23, although the senior assistant city prosecutors shall review his recommendation first before it will be endorsed to the city prosecutor for approval. - Rene U. Borromeo