Palace on suspect's bail: Why 19 times?

MANILA, Philippines –  Malacañang expressed alarm yesterday over how Raymond Dominguez, now the subject of a massive manhunt in connection with the murder of car dealer Venson Evangelista, was allowed to post bail 19 times for numerous cases of car theft filed against him.

This developed as Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo ordered the filing of murder raps yesterday against Dominguez and his brother Roger following the admission by arrested suspects Alfred Mendiola, alias Bading, and Batibot Parulan that they killed Evangelista on orders of Dominguez.

Mendiola and Parulan were brought to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court last night to face inquest proceedings.

The Palace’s pronouncement came on the heels of police raids in Dominguez’s safehouses in San Fernando, Pampanga that led to the recovery of a 9-mm pistol that could have been used in the gruesome murders of Evangelista and fellow car dealer Emerson Lozano.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Palace will study proposals to make car theft a non-bailable offense and stood behind the PNP in the arrests of Mendiola and Parulan, saying these could not possibly be staged.

“We can include that in the agenda,” Coloma said over radio dzRH, but clarified that the proposal had not been tackled in Cabinet meetings. 

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said it was indeed puzzling that Dominguez was allowed to repeatedly post bail and could not be pinned down despite having been in and out of jail for the same offense.

“That is another thing that can also be investigated by our other agencies. We don’t know because the accused can also be made to pay bail bond, which is a percentage of the amount of bail. Nonetheless, it’s worth looking into as to what really happened to the 19 charges against him,” Valte said.

The Dominguez brothers had been granted temporary liberty after posting bail on charges of car theft.

The PNP had said that unless the law was amended, car thieves would continue to ply their illicit trade.

The recent spate of carjackings and murder cases has prompted the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) to renew their call for Congress to enact a law that would make car theft a non-bailable offense. Currently, the offense carries a bail of P100,000 to P180,000.

Arsenio Evangelista holds an urn containing the ashes of his son Venson at the St. Peter’s Chapel in Quezon City yesterday. ERNIE PENAREDONDO

Coloma and Valte said despite obstacles, the Palace would support the PNP in its efforts to curb car theft and other crimes in the country.

Coloma also said Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo was on top of the situation despite claims that he had no power over the police.

Robredo said the government was determined to hold to account those behind these crimes.

Coloma said the President had ordered a daily monitoring of the cases even as statistics would show that car thefts had gone down compared to last year.

He said the PNP had assured the President that investigators are working round the clock to be able to track down the suspects.

“President Aquino’s order to the police is to go after criminals within the bounds of law. He will not give orders that violate people’s rights,” Valte said.

Incriminating evidence

The Pampanga raids also yielded other evidence that could pin down the suspects in the Evangelista murder, including the victim’s partially burned driver’s license and four wheels apparently taken from his missing Toyota Land Cruiser.

Reports gathered by The STAR from Camp Olivas sources said a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headed by Senior Superintendent Rudy Lacadin swooped down on the rented houses based on information provided by Mendiola and Parulan.

The raids on the two abandoned units lasted up to 1 a.m. yesterday.

Police also found a Mitsubishi Pajero and a Ford Expedition, several high-powered weapons, two handheld radios and several vehicle plates in the compound of a rented house in Greenville, several blocks away from the apartelle.

One of the police raiders said that while Evangelista’s driver’s license was partially burned, some letters of his name were still visible. The victim’s picture was also still recognizable.

Probers said the apartelle was owned by a certain Efren Pineda and was leased to one Karl Lopez.

The apartelle was reportedly rented only last Jan. 11, a day before Lozano and Evangelista met with the suspects, while the furnished house was rented in August last year.

Mendiola and Parulan have already admitted killing Lozano and Evangelista and pointed to the Dominguez brothers as the masterminds.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, director of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG), said investigators finally found a link between Raymond and the Lozano and Evangelista murders.

Bacalzo, in a press conference Friday night at Camp Olivas in Pampanga, said the arrest of Mendiola and Parulan led the probers closer to the solution of the killings.

Gang man tells tale

Mendiola, who hails from Barangay Pulong Bulo in Angeles City, Pampanga, met Raymond while detained in Bulacan.

“Dominguez met Mendiola and Parulan during his detention and it was then that he convinced the two to join their group. They trusted Bading,” Estipona said, referring to Mendiola, the same person who pretended to buy an Isuzu Alterra from Monica Atienza in Hagonoy, Bulacan.

Atienza, her two children and a relative were forcibly taken along with their vehicle by Mendiola and his cohorts but were later released in Victoria, Tarlac.

It was during their meeting in the provincial jail that Mendiola and Raymond hatched several carjacking jobs. When Dominguez went out on bail, he settled the bail bonds of Mendiola and Parulan.

Bacalzo said Mendiola and Parulan were very cooperative during the investigation and gave sworn statements.

Mendiola even detailed the plans that led to the carjacking and murder of Evangelista.

“I’m not saying that we have completely solved the case but we are getting there,” Bacalzo said.

There were reports as early as yesterday afternoon that the Dominguez brothers were in the custody of the PNP, but Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima, PNP regional chief for Central Luzon, denied this.

Senior Superintendent Wendy Rosario, deputy director for operations of the Central Luzon police, also denied that they had the Dominguez brothers in custody but said the two have “sent a message expressing willingness to give themselves up to the police.”

Wake-up call for everyone

The spate of carjacking and murder incidents was a wake-up call not only for the PNP but also for the entire government bureaucracy.

President Aquino called on the police to prioritize the cases. Robredo has vowed to convene mayors, police officials and even instructed the PNP and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to conduct a “full-court press” against all criminal elements operating in Metro Manila.

The PNP had even started relieving station commanders where carjackings had occurred, the latest casualty of which was Bulacan police director Senior Superintendent Fernando Villanueva.

At the Senate, Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the committee on public order and drugs, said he will head an inquiry on the matter even as he theorized that there could be collusion between criminals and law enforcers, or even with politicians.

At the House of Representatives, administration lawmakers are pushing for imposition of harsher punishments for those found guilty of carjacking, including life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Buhay party-list Rep. Irwin Tieng and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, in separate statements, batted for tougher punishment for car thieves, particularly with life imprisonment regardless of whether the crime was committed with or without violence, force, intimidation and murder.

“Carjacking has become an even more gruesome crime these days. People lose not only their cars but their lives as well. Targets of this terrifying scourge nowadays are dealers who try to sell rather ordinary cars,” said Tieng, who is a friend of slain car dealer Evangelista.

The Anti-Carnapping Act (Republic Act 6539) of 1972 makes carjacking a lesser offense, thus enabling carjacking suspects to post bail and consequently escape justice.

Tieng filed a bill Thursday amending the Anti-Carnapping Act by making all forms of carjacking punishable by the penalty of reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment) regardless of whether the crime was committed with violence or not.

“In other words, (car thieves) do not need to kill their victims first to be meted with reclusion perpetua. The very act of stealing the car is enough to serve justice by putting the (car thief) in jail for a lifetime,” Tieng said. “It is tantamount to life in exchange for stolen cars.”

Last stop for car dealer

Meanwhile, the remains of Evangelista were cremated at the St. Peter Chapel crematorium in Quezon City yesterday morning following a three-day wake at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina.

Venson’s father Arsenio suddenly went out from the crowd of mourners upon reaching the Immaculate Conception Parish Cathedral on Lantana street in Cubao where a Mass was to be held after the March for Justice.

Even before the Mass started and after the officiating priest prayed over him, the elder Evangelista left the cathedral, walking past surprised mediamen.

When asked why he was rushing out, family members said he was reportedly asked to proceed to Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga for the inquest proceedings against Mendiola and Parulan.

He took the occasion to deny that his son was a member of an organized carjacking syndicate and involved in the activities of the same group that killed him.

He said he is also poised to file libel charges against Channel 5 anchor and RMN radioman Erwin Tulfo for allegedly making false accusations in public. He said his lawyers are readying the papers.

“As a father, this (accusation) is very hard for me to accept. I appeal to the public. I am denying this report 100 percent. Venson died cruelly. They are killing him again with these irresponsible statements,” he said.

Evangelista also dared the police to make a background check on both Lozano and his son.

He also revealed that he has been receiving death threats lately asking him to stop talking to media about the killing.

He also confirmed that the family is considering leaving the country and migrating somewhere “in North America.”

“This is one option we are considering now. The business climate in the country is getting to be scary,” he said. - With Ding Cervantes, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Ric Sapnu, Mike Frialde, Paolo Romero, Jerry Botial, Roel Pareño, Raffy Viray, Ryan Christopher Sorote/Freeman