PNP blames DOJ for bungling job on Medel

The government lawyer who dropped the murder charges against the confessed killer of movie actress Nida Blanca bungled his job and prevented what could have been an early solution of the one-month-old murder case of movie actress Nida Blanca.

Philippine National Police (PNP) investigators alleged that State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco too readily dropped the murder charges against confessed killer Philip Medel Jr. and an alleged accomplice, Mike Martinez, as well as the parricide case against Blanca’s American husband, Rod Lauren Strunk.

They said Velasco did not give due consideration to the evidence presented against the suspect, including Medel’s handwritten confession.

Task Force Marsha spokesman Superintendent Eric Velasquez said Velasco "swallowed Medel’s histrionics hook, line and sinker, but failed to appreciate the weight of the evidence that allowed the investigators to book him for murder."

Task Force Marsha was specifically created to spearhead the investigation of Nov. 7 murder of Blanca, who was Dorothy Jones in real life.

Velasco, formerly assigned to the controversial and defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), "miserably failed in the discharge of his duties as investigating fiscal," task force members said.

The DOJ junked the charges after Medel, in an emotional outburst during a preliminary investigation being conducted by Velasco’s team, tore up his 10-page handwritten confession, claiming he was abducted and tortured by the police to admit the crime and tag Lauren as the mastermind of the slay plot.

Velasquez, who is also a lawyer, claimed that Velasco allowed Medel to throw a tantrum during the investigation — pumping his fists into the air, pounding on tables, rolling on the floor and shouting invectives in disregard of the seriousness of the proceedings.

"He should have done something to at least restore order so that the preliminary investigation should have been completed, and not unceremoniously terminate the proceedings, then put the blame on the police," Velasquez lamented.

Velasquez pointed out that Velasco was even present when Medel wrote his confession in the presence of lawyer Roberto Omandan of the Public Attorney’s Office representing the suspect, effectively belying Medel’s allegations of kidnapping and torture.

"How can Mr. Medel claim he was tortured into admitting the crime? Prosecutor Velasco was himself a witness when he voluntarily executed his affidavit," Velasquez said.

He maintained that Medel’s confession where he narrated in detail the events that led to the killing of Blanca arly in the morning of Nov. 7 at the Atlanta Centre in Greenhills, San Juan.

"As far as we are concerned, that was a perfectly valid affidavit," Velasquez said, adding they still considered Medel and Strunk prime suspects in the case.

He also said Medel remained a credible eyewitness to the crime, having passed the neuro-psychiatric tests conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which was taken over the lead role in the probe following Medel’s recantation.

Task force investigators also revealed that they are following up additional leads in the case, but declined to elaborate.