Cebu City police chief Patrocinio Comendador endorsed the murder complaint signed by Mayor Roger Illustrisimo against Domingo Zaspa and Arnulfo Tabajero Pigon to the fiscal’s office yesterday afternoon.
Roger tagged Zaspa as the alleged mastermind in the killing of his father on May 2 in front of the provincial office of the Commission on Elections.
In his affidavit, Roger said that he was with his father on the morning of the murder to attend a hearing on the petition for disqualification filed by Zaspa against them.
Roger said that minutes after his father was gunned down, his other companion, Nino Cabanas, saw Zaspa and his son, Dino, near the crime scene.
This was contrary to Zaspa’s claim in a radio interview that he had just boarded a taxi when the incident happened.
"We are filing murder charge against former policeman, PO2 Arnulfo Pigon," Chief Superintendent Geary Barrias, the director of the Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management of Camp Crame said at a press conference at Camp Sergio Osmeña.
Barrias said Pigon was a former police officer assigned to the Special Weapons and Tactics in Mandaue City Police Office. He said the latter went on absent without official leave (AWOL).
The gunman was identified through an artist sketch and through a photo shown to the witnesses.
Joint teams from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Cebu City Police Task Force Illustrisimo rushed to the New Light, Barangay Divisoria, Cawayan, Masbate last Tuesday to arrest Pigon in the house of a certain Inspector Nicole Ygot. Ygot is reportedly a brother-in-law of Pigon’s.
Pigon was with four other companions in a nipa hut inside the compound owned by Ygot.
On sensing the presence of policemen, Pigon fired at the approaching lawmen and fled with his four companions. Police said the place where Pigon hid was near the sea and a wooded area.
Police recovered a. 45 caliber pistol magazine with seven live ammunitions believed to be owned by Pigon inside Ygot’s house.
Police said they might file charges against Ygot including his wife for obstruction of justice and harboring a suspect.
Barrias said he is convinced that Pigon is the one who shot Illustrisimo through the witnesses. He added that Pigon was also involved in some cases such as this in the province of Masbate.
"He was able to elude our men so a case of murder will be filed against him, we have three witnesses who could positively identify him as the one who shot Mayor Illustrisimo that faithful day," Barrias said.
"We also have some testimonies linking mayoralty candidate Domingo Zaspa in this case and we would probably file the case today," Barrias added.
"We have sufficient evidences to indict Domingo Zaspa for the crime of murder… The evidence against Zaspa is based on the affidavit of Mayor Roger Illustrisimo identifying him as one of those who were in the crime scene when the incident happened. And he was identified also in the video footage that he is not far from the crime scene through the security camera," Comendador said.
According to Comendador, they have witnesses who claimed they saw Zaspa and the Pigon meet in a hotel after the killing.
In an interview with The Freeman, Zaspa’s lawyer Joje Decal said they will comment on the complaint once they formally receive a copy of the document.
"We maintain our stand that my client is innocent…we have no participation whatsoever," Decal said.
Decal clarified allegations that Zaspa did not cooperate in the police investigation, especially when he allegedly did not show up for questioning.
Decal said Zaspa did not show up because his request for security escort was turned down. Zaspa, Decal said, feared for his life.
Meanwhile, Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino insisted yesterday that it was the group of former Jaen Mayor Antonio Esquivel that is to blame for the bloody shootout in Jaen last April 26 that resulted in the death of two persons, including a police officer.
"It was the group of Esquivel who started the shooting but it backfired when several of his men, including his children, were hit instead during the attack," he said in a statement. – With Jess Diaz