Marikina prosecutor to reverse ruling on release of lotto winner

The Marikina City police asked the city prosecutor’s office yesterday to reverse its earlier ruling to jail a lotto winner as they have probable cause to charge him with murder, which is a heinous crime.

Senior Supt. Felipe Rojas Jr. said that the lotto winner, Lucito de los Reyes, alias Lito, should be remanded back to jail, as he owned the handgun used in the killing of his neighbor, Juanito Tuano, 31.

"It is in this light that this station respectfully request that an appropriate action should be taken in order that respondent Lucito de los Reyes be taken back into the Markina City jail since the gun used in the killing of the victim is owned by the same, hence, probable cause exist," said Rojas in his two-page letter to City Prosecutor Loreto Acejo.

Acejo ordered De los Reyes freed on the evening of June 24, hours after State Prosecutor Melba Waga recommended his release for insufficiency of evidence.

Rojas argued that Waga acted hastily and overlooked the police request for verification in Camp Crame of gun ownership of the caliber 9mm automatic pistol recovered from the hired killer, Ramil Gonzales, 35. The request was included in the folder of the case of De los Reyes and Gonzales who were charged with murder before the city prosecutor’s office.

It was Gonzales who pointed to De los Reyes as the mastermind in the killing of Tuano.

Gonzales claimed De los Reyes wanted Tuaño killed because the victim and a companion are planning to extort money from him by framing him up on a drug case. "She (Waga) should have given importance to such request for verification considering that this case is a capital offense and therefore needs careful scrutiny," said Rojas in his letter to Acejo.

After the records branch of the Firearms and Explosives Division (FED) issued a certification the following day that the seized firearm was licensed to De los Reyes, Waga did not lift a finger to change her recommendation when a copy was shown to her, Rojas said.

De los Reyes was immediately whisked out of detention after jail officials were shown Acejo’s release order.

Right after De los Reyes was released, Rojas immediately relieved Senior Inspector Armando Ponce and SPO3 Bello Borquetta, chief of the criminal investigation division and investigator, respectively, of the Marikina City police force, for their alleged lapses on the case.

For his part, Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco ordered Rojas to investigate reports that P500,000 change hands for the release of De los Reyes. He warned that Ponce and Borquetta would be subjected to summary dismissal proceedings once strong evidence was gathered against them.