More evidence submitted vs lotto winner

The Marikina City police submitted additional evidence to the city prosecutor to bolster their case against a lotto winner tagged as the brains behind the killing of a neighbor last month.

Apart from a Firearms and Explosive Division (FED) documents certifying that Lucito de los Reyes was the owner of the murder weapon seized from a hired assassin, Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas Jr., Marikina City police chief, said he also forwarded the results of ballistic and paraffin tests and the testimonies of four witnesses linking the lotto winner to the killing of Juanito Tuaño, 31, last June 23.

The police are hoping that additional evidence will help make City Prosecutor Loreto Acejo reconsider his earlier ruling to release De los Reyes from jail for insufficient evidence.

Rojas said he briefed Marikina City Mayor Ma. Lourdes Fernando of the developments of the case.

"Mayor Fernando was fully behind us in our effort to bring De los Reyes back to jail," Rojas said in an interview.

For his part, Acejo clarified that De los Reyes was ordered released from custody for "further investigation."

"Hence, you still have all the chance to present your evidence to this office during the scheduled investigation of the case," Acejo said in a letter to Rojas.

Assistant chief inquest prosecutor Nestor Gapuzan, who reviewed the De los Reyes case, defended the decision to release the lotto winner, saying the police have no direct evidence to link him to the killing of Tuaño.

Gapuzan said the confession of alleged gunman, Ramil Gonzales, 35, who tagged De los Reyes as the mastermind was inadmissible in court because it had been taken without the presence of a counsel of his choice. "As such, the alleged admission of Ramil obtained during custodial investigation in violation of his constitutional rights cannot be used against him, more so against Lucito de los Reyes, a third party," said Gapuzan in his deposition.

Accusations that De los Reyes masterminded the killing of Tuaño because he owned the fatal weapon was also dismissed by Gapuzan as "utterly baseless."

Gapuzan noted that when Gonzales was presented for inquest, his face was bloated from contusions. Bloodstains were also present in his shirt.

But Rojas denied that his men "tortured" Gonzales to force him to name De los Reyes as the mastermind in Tuaño’s killing. He said Gonzales was mauled by angry bystanders who chased him after learning he killed their neighbor.

Because of the apparent bungling of the case, Rojas ordered the relief of Senior Inspector Armando Ponce and SPO3 Bello Borquetta of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the local police.