Suspects in Isabela mayor’s slay plead not guilty

MANILA, Philippines - The suspects in the killing of Maconacon, Isabela Mayor Erlinda Domingo pleaded not guilty yesterday to the murder charges filed against them.

Christian Pajenado, Michael Domingo, Mary Grace Malones-Abduhadi, and Marsibal Abduhadi all entered “not guilty” pleas during their arraignment yesterday before Judge Jose Paneda of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 220.

Aside from the murder charges, the four are also facing frustrated murder charges for the injuries sustained by the slain mayor’s driver-bodyguard, Bernard Plasos.

Pajenado and Malones-Abduhadi also pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of firearms and charges for violating the election gun ban that were filed against them. Inquest prosecutor Rodrigo del Rosario earlier slapped the two with the charges after police officers confiscated several guns from them upon their arrest.

Following their arraignment, the judge ordered the transfer of Pajenado and Domingo from the detention facility at the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit to the Quezon City Jail (QCJ).

Abduhadi is currently detained at the QCJ, while his wife, Malones-Abduhadi, is at the QCJ female dormitory.

Domingo was shot dead on Jan. 22 in front of the Park Villa Apartelle at the corner of Examiner street and Quezon Avenue in West Triangle. The slain mayor’s driver-bodyguard reportedly ran after the killers but was shot and wounded in the right leg. He was later treated at the East Avenue Medical Center.

Following the incident, police arrested Pajenado, who fled through Times street and tried to hide in a construction site. He then led investigators to the house of Domingo. The two later brought the police to the home of Abduhadi, the alleged gunman, in a compound in Barangay Culiat, also in Quezon City.

Abduhadi, however, was not in his house when the police came. Instead, they arrested his wife after they recovered from her a bag containing a .25 caliber Beretta pistol, a .45 caliber pistol with two magazines, a box of 9mm bullets and suspected illegal drugs.

Another suspect, Ryan Santiago, has since surrendered to the authorities and denied involvement in the incident. He was released, however, as his case was still under preliminary investigation.

Court records show that no case has been filed against Santiago before the court.