MPD cops in Dalaig case sacked

The chief of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section and one of his investigators tasked to probe the killing of Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal officer Alioden Dalaig were relieved from their posts yesterday following an alleged attempt to switch the slain official’s gold bracelet with a fake one.

MPD director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales said he is relieving homicide head Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr. and Senior Police Officer 2 Benito Cabatbat after Dalaig’s children said their father’s bracelet had been switched with a fake one when they tried to claim his money and personal belongings at the homicide section office last Friday.

“These two police officers will be removed out of the homicide section so that the investigation to verify their alleged culpability will go on smoothly,” Rosales said.

Chief Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr. will take over the homicide section as officer-in-charge, Rosales added. 

Dalaig was rushed to the Ospital ng Maynila after he was shot on the night of Nov. 10 as he was crossing the street in front of Hyatt Hotel in Ermita. Dalaig’s jewelry and more than P390,000 in cash were turned over by the hospital’s medical staff to Cabatbat on same night, according to Superintendent Nelson Yabut, chief of the MPD’s criminal investigation and detection unit.

On Nov. 16, Dalaig’s children, Alioden Jr. and Zoraya, and his wife, Filomena, tried to claim his belongings from Cabatbat. However, Filomena complained that the bracelet was not that of her husband.

What was being returned was a gold-plated chain made of very poor material and without a lock, according to lawyer Ma. Juana Valeza, who accompanied Dalaig’s family to the MPD homicide office. But Cabatbat insisted that it was the same bracelet the hospital turned over to him.

Cabatbat also refused to turn over the money, saying that a politician from Bulacan is claiming it. When contacted by Valeza, Yanquiling confirmed Cabatbat’s statement and added that several persons claiming to be Dalaig’s relatives are also after his belongings.

The following day, Dalaig’s family went to Yabut’s office, where Dalaig’s belongings were finally returned to them. This time, the family confirmed that the bracelet returned to them is the real one. They said this bolsters their allegations that Cabatbat tried to switch the bracelet with a fake one on their first try. The Dalaigs said the money turned over to them is short by P7,000, but that they are not after the missing amount.

Yanquiling, meanwhile, said the Dalaig family only made up the allegation to get back at the homicide operatives who refused to entertain them.

“There were several persons claiming to be relatives of Dalaig and attempting to retrieve his belongings, so I have to screen everyone of them. This might have angered the complainants,” Yanquiling said.

He said he has no record of stealing valuables from victims and noted that he returned some P900,000 and expensive jewelry owned by parricide victim Josephine Ong to her heirs when his investigators found the dead body of the victim in her condominium unit last June.  

He said he is saddened that these allegations came out when they are already nearing the solution of the Dalaig murder case.

“It seems that there are people who are more interested in my prosecution and that of my investigators than unmasking the identity of the brains behind the killing,” Yanquiling said.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is conducting an independent investigation of the killing, said they have gathered statements from five eyewitnesses but are still looking for someone who is a “vital link to the perpetrators” to learn the motive for the attack.

The NBI said Dalaig’s death might have been work-related but have not yet ruled out other possibilities.   – With Evelyn Macairan