Slain consultant's partner says victim abused her

MANILA, Philippines - The partner of a Caloocan City financial consultant who was shot dead three months ago said Wednesday that the victim had repeatedly beaten her during their five-year relationship.

Ma. Cecilia Retita, 27, said she was working as a guest relations officer at a nightclub when she met Jose Martinez, 42, who worked as a consultant for his family-owned money-lending firm. She alleged that the beatings, even over petty misunderstandings, started when they began living together in his house in Barangay Talipapa, Caloocan City. She has a four-year-old child by Martinez.

Though she admitted leaving the gate of their house open on the night of May 13 to allow her lover, sales agent Joselito Calma, and alleged gunman Ricardo Magat to enter the house, she claimed she did not intend to have him killed.

“They said they would only rob him,” Retita said when The STAR interviewed her in her cell at the Caloocan police station Wednesday.

Retita said that at around 2 a.m., Calma and Magat barged into Martinez’s room and while Calma was trying to hogtie the victim, Magat allegedly shot Martinez several times, killing him on the spot.

She said Magat and Calma took P100,000, 13 land titles, jewelry, cell phones, and Martinez’s 9mm and .45 caliber pistols.

Retita said she met Calma through a social networking site in 2009, and started sharing her “personal problems” with him. The constant communication led to an affair.

“I pity her, that’s why,” Calma, who claimed to have four children with his legal wife, said when asked about his affair with Retita.

Chief Inspector Rodrigo Soriano, city police investigation chief, said yesterday they are closing in on Magat, who is reportedly working as a bodyguard of a mayor. After being told by Calma that they had sold Martinez’s guns, Soriano said the buyers should “surrender them... to avoid trouble.”