Widow innocent in Pastor slay, pa claims

MANILA, Philippines - The widow of international racing champion Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor had nothing to do with his murder last June 12, her father claimed yesterday. 

Xavier Guerrero, father of Dalia Pastor, denied on behalf of his daughter the parricide charge during preliminary investigation hearing for the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Dalia has everything to lose and nothing to gain by plotting to kill her husband… I believe my daughter is innocent,” the teary-eyed father said. 

While he hinted about “marital problems” between the couple, Guerrero said his daughter’s relationship with Pastor “was actually getting better.” 

He also cited Dalia’s love for her six-year-old and nine-year-old children: “They are God’s gift to Dalia and Enzo. The children are the most important to Dalia. She would put her children’s welfare first before any decision.”

The children are with him, Guerrero said. 

He also bared that the couple had earlier decided to organize the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in the Philippines. 

“With this project, things became more complicated since it needed additional funds and more time. In spite of these, things were getting better...  And the success of the business is all where their energy went,” he added. 

He described his daughter as a “free-spirited person who believes in free expression.”

“All of this was the result of proper education and parental guidance,” said Guerrero, who claimed he has lost contact with his daughter. He only recalled talking with her two weeks ago and recalled that she was really bothered by the media attention on her.  

Dalia and her alleged lover, businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman III, who were tagged by self-confessed gunman Police Officer 2 Edgar Angel as masterminds in the killing, did not attend the hearing. 

The two instead sent their respective lawyers, Ruy Rondain and Dennis Manalo, who both sought more time to answer the charges against them following Angel’s recantation. 

The lawyers said the investigating panel led by Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva should first rule on the retraction in the judicial confession of the suspect-turned-witness before their clients could submit counter-affidavits. 

They argued that since the charges against their clients were based solely on Angel’s testimony, the recantation effectively voided the allegations against them. 

The DOJ panel granted the request and gave the alleged masterminds until Oct. 6 to answer the murder and parricide charges after it issues a resolution on the murder charge against Angel on Sept. 12. 

The three respondents are also facing a separate charge for frustrated murder since Pastor’s assistant, Paolo Salazar, was wounded in the killing.    

In his three-page counter-affidavit filed last Monday, Angel said he executed his extrajudicial confession under “duress.” 

He alleged that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District forced him to tag De Guzman when they supposedly threatened to implicate him in other unsolved crimes in the city if he would not admit to the crime.