Cinco slay case suspect rapped

Murder and frustrated murder charges were filed yesterday by the Department of Justice in the Manila Regional Trial Court against the principal suspect in the killing of Velma Cinco, the education and information division chief of the Commission on Elections.

State Prosecutor Elaine Cerezo of the Manila Prosecutor’s Office said they recommended no bail for alleged triggerman Conrado Robles for the murder charge and P200,000 bail for frustrated murder.

Charges of illegal possession of firearms against Robles have also been filed in the metropolitan trial court of Batangas City, according to Senior State Prosecutor Jude Romano. Robles was caught in possession of an unlicensed .32 caliber pistol.

It could not be known yet, however, whether the seized firearm was the murder weapon used in killing Cinco, 63, who was shot aboard her Kia Pride car in Sta. Ana, Manila last Nov. 20.

Robles denied his handgun was unlicensed, saying he had left the documents at home. He added he also has a "mission order" issued by retired Army major Ernesto Matibag, elder brother of Cinco’s nemesis — former Comelec EID chief Angelina Matibag.

But the elder Matibag, who is currently chief of the Department of National Defense Military Review and Investigation Division, denied having issued a mission order to Robles, saying he has no authority to do so.

Robles was identified by a "bystander-witness" and the victim’s son Carlo and sister Marian Jayme.

Sources said Jayme positively identified Robles as aboard the motorcycle that blocked their path at the corner of Eden and Pedro Gil streets in Sta. Ana. Jayme said Robles even looked into the car’s window.

Same sources said Robles is a town mate of Matibag, the suspected mastermind, in San Pascual, Batangas and was a former casual employee of the Comelec whose employment was not renewed by Cinco.

A check of Robles’ records in his personal data sheet showed that he used the Matibags as his character references.

Elements of the Western Police District and the National Bureau of Investigation are now closing in on the alleged mastermind of Cinco killing.

This, after the second gunman in the case was positively identified by NBI and WPD investigators. The NBI identified the second gunman as Mario Francisco, a close-in bodyguard and driver of Angelina Matibag, who is now being tracked down. His house was raided over the weekend but he managed to elude arrest.

According to Senior Superintendent Federico Castro, chief of the Western Police District’s Task Force Cinco, they are also preparing a charge of murder and two counts of frustrated murder against Francisco.

"We will be including the complaint against one of the triggermen, who was identified through pictures which was taken at his house. When the NBI was conducting its operation against Robles, a team from the WPD was also casing the house of this suspect. But it was abandoned hastily. We found several mission orders which were issued by a certain Ernesto Matibag," Castro said.

As this developed, police investigators in the case are now hot on the tracks of a possible third suspect in the case. The third suspect allegedly acted as the lookout for the two gunmen and reportedly tailed the victims from their house to the corner of Eden and Pedro Gil Streets.

Meanwhile, though Wycoco hinted that there is no concrete evidence at the moment to link Angelina Matibag to Cinco’s murder, the NBI is not yet letting go of Matibag.

"As of this time, the NBI is still evaluating all these things. We reserve the right to invite her (Matibag) later for questioning. Her name is surfacing very frequently in this case. Maybe later we will invite her. The case will only be solved if we have the second gunman and the possible mastermind," Wycoco said.

Wycoco also told reporters that just minutes after Robles was arrested by NBI agents in Batangas, Matibag’s lawyers rushed to the NBI headquarters looking for him.

Cinco, 63, officer-in-charge of the Comelec’s EID was being driven by her son Carlo, 37 from their house in Sta. Ana to work at about 8 a.m. abroad her red Kia car with plate number TDR-779 when their way was blocked by the two gunmen aboard a motorcycle at the corner of Eden and Pedro Gil streets.

The suspects immediately opened fire with 9 mm pistols. Cinco was hit several times in the face and body. Carlo sustained two bullet wounds in the left arm.

After shooting the victim, the suspects quickly sped off towards President Quirino Avenue.

Velma was rushed to the Manila Doctors Hospital but was declared dead on arrival due to multiple bullet wounds in the body and head. Her son was rushed to the Philippine General Hospital for treatment of two bullet wounds in the left arm.

The NBI earlier invited for questioning Laverne Manzano, a clerk at the Comelec’s EID who was allegedly hired by Matibag to serve as her "back-up" bodyguard. Seized from him was a licensed 9 mm Luger pistol.

He was however later released pending further investigation by the NBI. Investigators have failed to match his gun with the five spent 9 mm shells and five slugs taken from the crime scene. — Paolo Romero