CEBU, Philippines – Regional Trial Court Judge Silvestre Maamo of Branch 17 will hear the murder case against the deputy chief tanod of barangay Maghaway in Talisay City and his alleged companion in the ambush-slaying of Patrick Osorio, Cebu City assistant prosecutor, last January.
Maamo got the case of Allan Sinogat and Lyndon Horandoy during the regular raffling of cases yesterday.
Sinogat, deputy chief tanod of barangay Maghaway, and Horandoy were the alleged motorcycle-riding gunmen who ambushed Osorio in the afternoon of January 6 in barangay Mambaling.
The homicide section of the Cebu City Police Office charged them despite previous witnesses’ accounts that the suspects were wearing crash helmets which covered their faces. The police were able to obtain another witness who claimed that the helmets worn by the accused do not cover their faces.
State prosecutor Graeme Elmido found probable cause to elevate the murder case in court after the accused failed to submit their counter-affidavits.
Sinogat was arrested recently by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-7 for illegal possession of firearms. He is currently out on bail but promised to surrender as soon as a warrant of arrest against him for murder is out.
In an earlier interview with The FREEMAN, he denied the charges claiming he has witnesses and evidence to prove that he was just in Maghaway when Osorio was ambushed. — Fred P. Languido/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)