New witness surfaces in Dalaig slay case

The police have found another witness who can bolster the murder charges against Police Officer 1 Basser Ampatuan and his companion for the death of former Commission on Elections legal department chief Alioden Dalaig.

The witness has executed an affidavit, which now forms part of the supplementary evidence against the two suspects, according to Manila Police District-Homicide Section head Chief Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr.

The police also identified an alias “Irving” who was the companion of Ampatuan as dismissed policeman Julius Ebus of Sultan Kudarat.   

Ebus was tagged as the mystery man seen on video tape of a close-circuit television camera tailing Dalaig at a casino in Ermita, Manila shortly before he was gunned down on the night of Nov. 10.

According to the new witness, she saw Ampatuan and Irving casing Dalaig’s house near the Manila Cathedral. She said Dalaig noticed the hidden firearms on the waists of the two suspects, and called for security assistance from the nearby Comelec office.

Ebus promptly left on board a black motorcycle, while Ampatuan walked away, according to the new witness. The black motorcycle was previously mentioned by another witness as the vehicle she and the two suspects used to go bar-hopping in Ermita from the night of Nov. 6 until the wee hours of Nov. 7.

Arevalo said the new witness is sure that the two men she saw casing Dalaig’s house on Nov. 9, a day before he was shot, were Ampatuan and Ebus.                                — Nestor Etolle