Gun seized from Dominguez linked to witness slay

MANILA, Philippines - Forensic evidence has implicated Ryan Dominguez in the murder of Alfredo Mendiola, the state witness against his elder brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez, both accused of killing a car dealer last year.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said suspect Ryan Dominguez will be charged with the murder of Mendiola.

He will also be charged with illegal possession of firearms, illegal possession of shabu and car theft, after police seized such items in a raid in Bulacan last May 8.

Robredo said one of the firearms confiscated from Ryan during his arrest in Malolos City matched the spent shells found beside the body of Mendiola in Cavite last May 6.

“Initial report from Crime Laboratory in connection with Mendiola’s case, one empty shell of .45 caliber recovered from the crime scene in Cavite matched with one of the two firearms seized from Ryan Dominguez’s possession,” Robredo said.

“Ryan Dominguez is already considered a suspect together with the three others (who were arrested),” he said.

Robredo said Ryan, Mark Lakambakal, James Jimenez and Rey Blanco were all found positive for shabu use.

“The plastic sachet seized from them was also positive for shabu,” Robredo said.

He noted the fingerprints, blood and hair samples gathered from the van/crime scene are still in the process of being cross-matched with the four arrested suspects.

Robredo also branded as “defense” the claims of the mother of Dominguez that the items linked to the Mendiola murder were planted by the authorities in a desperate effort to get back at her two other sons.

“I think it would be hard for our operatives to plant evidence like Ryan and his companions’ being positive with drugs, the presence of three hot cars, two short and two long firearms,” Robredo added.

He said forensic experts would analyze other pieces of evidence recovered from the crime scene in Dasmariñas, Cavite where the body of Mendiola was found, and from the safehouse of Ryan Dominguez in Malolos City in Bulacan.

Senior Superintendent Bernabe Balba, regional director of the CIDG-Calabarzon region, said investigators are doing backtracking investigation to determine the sequences of events before Mendiola and two other victims, Eriberto Jumaquio and Mark Angelo Herrera, were found dead in Cavite.

He said they are still conducting a random investigation and looking for more witnesses who may shed light on circumstances that led to the supposed abduction and eventual killing of the three victims.

Balba said the CIDG has taken the initiative to lead the investigation with other concerned police agencies for early resolution of the killing of Mendiola.

The backtracking investigation disclosed that Jumaquio was contacted by Herrera through a certain Fernando ‘Bong’ Oreta last May 2, 2012 to pick up Mendiola, who at that time was in Hermosa, Bataan.

Jumaquio was the driver of the Toyota Grandia (TBO-299) that Herrera had contracted for Mendiola. The van was found abandoned near a hotel in Parañaque City.

Jumaquio was also last contacted by his family on May 5, at around 7 p.m.

Chief Inspector Marlon Santos, Cavite-CIDG chief, said the statement taken from Oreta revealed that he picked up Mendiola along with Herrera and the others last April 29 in Calumpit, Bulacan before they went to Palm Garden Resort in Malolos City.

Mendiola’s group checked out of the resort at around noon of April 30 and went to Peninsula Resort in Orani, Bataan where they stayed until May 2.

In the afternoon of May 2, the group proceeded to Hermosa, Bataan to attend a fiesta. It was at this time that Oreta contracted the service of Jumaquio.

Robredo, on the other hand, said Ryan has the motive against Mendiola, who testified against his elder brothers as the alleged leaders of a notorious carjacking syndicate believed to be behind the murder of car dealer Venson Evangelista on Jan. 11, 2011.

Although police believed Raymond and Roger were also linked to the killing of car trader Emerson Lozano and his co-employee Ernani Sensil also in January 2011, police have yet to gather enough evidence to support the filing of charges against them.

“We are not discounting the participation of other people (in the murder of Mendiola),” Robredo said.

Last Sunday, Mendiola was found dead, bound and gagged, together with two other men in Barangay Salawag, Dasmariñas City, Cavite.

Mendiola is a key government witness in the murder case against the Dominguez brothers.

Mendiola was under the custody of the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) but apparently went out with his friends.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima denied liability on the death of Mendiola. She said Mendiola took the risk and defied the rules of the WPP. 

But lawmakers said De Lima should be held accountable for the death of Mendiola since after all, he was under custody of the WPP.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the murder of Mendiola could warrant a congressional inquiry.

He lamented the lapses in the implementation of the WPP in the murder of a state witness.

“We are all very unhappy about that incident,” Belmonte said.

“I think the people that are executing them ought to do their best. There are laws that’s supposed to protect Mendiola,” he said.

Belmonte said the murder of Mendiola and two other men is “something worth looking into” as it exposed serious lapses in the WPP.

“The appropriate committee can go ahead and inquire into that,” he said.

Belmonte said the WPP law is “good enough” but implementation appeared to have fatal loopholes.

The House committee on public order and security is deliberating on two bills seeking to amend Republic Act 6981 or Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act.

House Bill 5060 provides the conduct of medical, psychological and physical examination on persons who would be admitted to the program.

Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones, author of the bill, said “witnesses under the program are under tremendous physical stress and it is necessary that those administering the program be informed of the physical condition of the witnesses so that precautionary measures can be taken to safeguard their health.”

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez filed House Bill 1979, which also proposes amendments to the WPP by allowing the Senate and the House of Representatives to have similar programs to protect their witnesses. –With Paolo Romero, Reinir Padua, Ed Amoroso