Suspect in Picache ma’s slay charged

MANILA, Philippines - The primary suspect in the killing of actress Cherry Pie Picache’s 75-year-old mother last Sept. 19 was charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday.

Michael Flores, 29, was brought to the DOJ for inquest proceedings on charges of robbery for homicide following his arrest in Sta. Rosa, Laguna Tuesday night after weeks of hiding.

Flores, a helper of Picache’s mother, Zenaida Sison, said in a sworn statement that he intended only to rob her but was forced to kill her after she recognized him. Police officers submitted the statement to the DOJ.

A separate charge of qualified trespass to dwelling was filed against him for breaking into the house of Sta. Rosa businesswoman Lilibeth Lato.

Picache went to the DOJ to witness the proceedings. She stands as the complainant in the charges against Flores and two other suspects.

Sison, who was found dead on the second floor of her home, lived alone. Only three women, who cleaned her house in shifts, and two gardeners had access to her house.

P.5 M jewelry sold for P7,000

The stolen items – mostly pieces of jewelry – from Sison were reportedly worth around P500,000 but these were sold or pawned by Flores for only P7,000, said Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU). 

“He (Flores) claimed he earned only P7,000 from that crime,” Marcelo said in an interview. 

In less than two weeks, Flores spent the entire amount on drugs and gambling, said Inspector Elmer Monsalve, head of the Homicide Investigation Section of the QCPD-CIDU. 

Marcelo said Flores entered Lato’s house in Sta. Rosa on Tuesday night. Lato was the one who phoned the police, leading to the suspect’s arrest. 

Monsalve’s team recovered only three items from Flores: a necklace the suspect had pawned at a pawnshop and two cell phones – one he sold to someone in San Pedro, Laguna for P2,500 and another he sold in Cubao for P800.

Repeat offender, first killing

While Flores had been accused of theft by households whose owners had accommodated him before, he never hurt anyone of his past victims, police said.

Flores had been working for Sison and would occasionally be called by the woman whenever she needed something done at her house in Barangay Paligsahan.

But on the day of the killing, Flores came uninvited, Marcelo said. Flores supposedly gained entry into the compound and found a screwdriver in Sison’s unlocked car. He used the tool to forcibly open the main door of the house between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., amid continuous rains brought by Typhoon Mario.

As Flores quietly rummaged through Sison’s room, the woman woke up. “This prompted the suspect to attack the old woman,” Marcelo said.

He said the suspect slammed a chunk of wood into the woman’s head and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife, which he later used to pry open the woman’s cabinets.

Once he had his loot, Flores dressed and left his bloodied clothing and his victim, whom he gagged with a piece of cloth, behind.

At around 6 p.m. the same day, Pichache went to the house following unanswered calls. She discovered her mother’s body.

More suspects appear

Meanwhile, scavenger Sherwin “Weng” Ledesma, 35, accompanied by his partner, 23-year-old Karen Pangilinan, went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday to clear his name.

Ledesma denied Flores’ allegation that he gave a knife to one of his accomplices, whom he identified as Weng, who went up to the house and killed Sison.

Ledesma said Flores lied, noting that he was nowhere near Sison’s house at the time and date she was killed. He said a security guard at the Capitol Medical Center and footage taken by a security camera along Quezon Avenue would prove he was there.

Ledesma said he met Sison in 2010 when he was hired to tend her garden a few times, and was paid P50 each time. He denied ever entering her house.

He added that he did not bear her any grudges even when she hired another gardener.

As for Flores, Ledesma admitted doing drugs with him but said he no longer wanted to be in Flores’ company.

Another suspect, Wilfredo Paolo Gaviola, whom Flores also implicated, also surrendered to the NBI. Ledesma said Flores may have tagged Gaviola because the suspect knows Gaviola is aware of his whereabouts.

NBI special investigator Joey Ajero said they have the footprints and fingerprints of Gaviola and Ledesma, but so far they do not match the prints recovered from the crime scene.

He said since the two men went to the NBI voluntarily, they would be released.               – With Evelyn Macairan