Pastor slay probe ends

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday concluded its preliminary investigation on the killing of international car racing champion Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor last June 12 in Quezon City.

In the last hearing, Pastor’s parents Tomas and Remy submitted to investigating panel of prosecutors their reply to the answers of the alleged mastermind, businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman, to the murder charge.

They said that the denial made by De Guzman in his counter-affidavit, submitted during the hearing last Oct. 24, is not enough to disprove the allegations and evidence they presented against him and Pastor’s widow Daliah, who remains at large.

 “The truthfulness of his statements, the application of the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine in the admissibility of evidence gathered by the police against him, the authenticity of the phone logs and text messages between and among the respondents as well as the other purported CCTV videos in the place where he was arrested in an entrapment operation – should be threshed out in a full-blown trial and not during the preliminary investigation,” read the six-page pleading.

The complainants told the DOJ panel that their evidence would suffice to establish probable cause on the murder charge against De Guzman and confessed gunman Police Officer 2 Edgar Angel and parricide charge against Daliah.

The parents of Pastor pointed out that De Guzman did not deny having an illicit affair with Daliah and that he knew Angel and was caught handing a “bonus” of P50,000 to him during his arrest. 

The DOJ panel, led by Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva, is expected to come up with a resolution either recommending the filing in court or dismissal of the charges.