Dad in murder raps decries bias

The patriarch of five family members charged with double murder after a rumble that resulted in the death of two people last Monday in Malabon, appealed yesterday for an impartial reinvestigation of the case, claiming they were victims of "police bias."

Interviewed in his cell at the Malabon municipal jail, Eliseo Laude Sr., 60, (no relation to this writer), said that the Malabon police hastily filed the "very serious" charges against him and his four sons based only on the complainants’ allegations.

"How could the police charge us with murder for in fact we were the ones who were attacked?" Laude asked.

Police said that at about 11 a.m. last Monday, a free-for-all broke out between the Laude and Santos families on Katarungan st., Muzon, Malabon, which resulted in the death of one Conrado Santos, 50, and his son Ruel, 22.

Superintendent Ernesto Fojas, Malabon police chief, said that the incident was triggered merely by a bad stare which reignited the two families’ long-running feud.

"That’s not true," Laude insisted. He said the Santoses, known toughies in their area, had an axe to grind against his family after they filed frustrated murder charges against them in November last year for their alleged near fatal mauling of his son, Edgardo. – Pete Laude