CEBU, Philippines - For the first time in her life, Bella Ruby Santos spent Christmas and New Year behind bars after facing a case as suspect in the kidnapping and death of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last February 8.
Cebuanos had, for most of the year 2011, followed the saga that was the police search for Ellah Joy's abductor and killer and ended with Santos' arrest by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last October 7, 2011 inside a mall in Metro Manila.
She and her boyfriend, British national Ian Charles Griffiths, were implicated in the death of Ellah Joy, who was abducted while walking home from school in Calajo-an, Minglanilla.
Stories of the case grabbed headlines - from a councilman's discovery in Barili of Ellah Joy's dumped body wrapped in blankets and tied with rocks and electric cable, to the police "bungling" of the investigation by arresting Norwegian Sven Erik Berger and Cebuana Karen Esdrelon, the naming of Santos and Griffiths as the suspects and finally, Santos' arrest.
Griffiths has fled the Philippines and went back to the United Kingdom.
Autopsy showed Ellah Joy was not raped but had several contusions in her arms and a lacerated wound in the head. Police suspect she was used for child pornography.
On February 13, 2011 police arrested Berger and Esdrelon at the airport where they were prevented by the Bureau of Immigration from boarding a flight to Hong Kong. Authorities say they resembled the faces in the cartographic sketches of the suspects.
Four kids identified Berger and Esdrelon from behind a one-way mirror at the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) - two of them were 10-year-old twin boys in Minglanilla and the other two were Ellah's schoolmates.
Berger and Esdrelon, however, cried they were victims of mistaken identity. They were detained for 16 days.
Sr. Supt. Erson Digal, provincial director at that time, insisted Ellah's case was solved with the arrest of Berger and Esdrelon. That cost him his job as head of the Provincial Police Office.
Showing security footages of places they went to and the hotel where they stayed, Berger and Esdrelon proved their innocence, prompting the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office to dismiss the kidnapping with homicide complaint.
Three Norwegian freelance journalists covered the arrest of Berger. The case was apparently big news in Norway.
Three months after the complaint against them was dismissed, Berger and Esdrelon filed a string of cases against four policemen and employees of Bureau of Immigration (BI) before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Berger said he could never forgive and forget. They also filed separate criminal and administrative complaints against BI's Arthur Omega, former Cebu Provincial Police Office director Senior Supt. Digal, police officers Rubin Cuizon and Lamberto Hibaya and Police Chief Inspector Donalita Baya Sotto of the Philippine Center Aviation Security (PCAS) of the Mactan International Airport.
The two asked for damages for the respondents.
With the dismissal of the complaint against Berger and Esdrelon, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) zeroed in on gathering evidence against Santos and Griffiths.
Before the filing of the complaint, Santos and Griffiths filed a motion to quash search warrant, citing inconsistencies in the statements of the policemen. Debate centered mainly on whether the sports utility vehicle (SUV) with plate number LHJ-382 seen in Barili was theirs. There was also a question on whether someone tampered with the plate number of the dark blue Mitsubishi Pajero.
Subsequently, the court ordered the return of other evidence like the Lan cord, hair strands, two stones and waivers confiscated by the CIDG inside the house of Santos during the search. Former Executive Judge Mienrado Paredes RTC Cebu City ruled the other confiscated materials were not subject to the kidnapping with homicide case.
The court likewise ordered to return the vehicle after the witnesses were not consistent on whether the plate number was LHJ-382 or LMJ-382.
Later on, the Provincial Prosecutors' Office recommended the filing of the case after finding probable cause. Santos and Griffiths filed a motion for reconsideration but this was denied as the panel of prosecutors believed there was strong evidence.
In a span of three months after the warrant of arrest was issued by Judge Ester Veloso of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6, last October 7, 2011 Santos was arrested by the agents of NBI.
Santos initially denied her identity but later on confessed. She had changed her look by cutting her hair short and sporting tattoos. She claimed she did not go into hiding but enjoyed what was left of her freedom. She denied she had a spy at the CIDG giving her tips on the plans of the police.
Santos arrived from Manila escorted by NBI agents on October 10, 2011. She was made to wear a bullet proof vest. After presenting her to the court, authorities transferred her to the Naga City jail. Before her arrest, the Provincial Government of Cebu and the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) raised a reward money. The Capitol provided P300,000 while P50,000 came from the CPPO.
Right now, family and relatives visit Santos everyday and bring her food. Still, they continue to insist on her innocence.
Meanwhile, Ellah Joy's family spent their first Christmas and New Year without her. They also went last All Soul's Day to Barili where her body was found. She was laid to rest on February 20, 2011 at the Pardo Public Cemetery with over 6,000 people in attendance.
Aside from the family and relatives of Ellah Joy, those who joined the funeral march were her classmates, friends, police officers from Minglanilla and Cebu Provincial Police Office, members of the Philippine Street Watch Incorporation of Minglanilla, Boy Scouts of the Philippines Cebu Council and New Guardians for Freedom and Democracy.
Banners and posters were placed on the hearse with words calling for justice to the child.
Written in one of the posters was an advocacy that has reached awareness at the provincial level: "Jail the killer; protect the school children." — /JPM (FREEMAN)