Nueva Vizcaya cops eye 2 more massacre suspects

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Police are eyeing at least two more male suspects in the gruesome murder of a mother and her three children whose decomposing bodies were discovered last April 18 in a shallow grave along the Magat River here.

However, Chief Inspector Narciso Verdadero, provincial police intelligence officer, declined to divulge the suspects’ identities pending surveillance.

However, he said the two suspects are natives of this capital town and are close "associates" of seaman Danilo Afalla, the husband and father of the victims whom the police have tagged as the prime suspect in the massacre.

Police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials here tried to prevent Afalla from leaving the country. But their efforts were wasted as he slipped out Thursday night.

Based on records of the Bureau of Immigration, Afalla, who hails from this town, left the country aboard a Lufthansa aircraft at about 10:30 p.m. last Thursday en route to Frankfurt, Germany where he would take a flight to Miami, Florida in the United States where his ship is docked.

Verdadero said they were dismayed that Afalla, the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his wife Recy, 40, and children, Chinny Claire, 13; Mark Anthony, 11; and Michael Angelo, 5, had slipped out of the country.

However, he admitted that they did not have enough time to prevent him from leaving since they only confirmed Danilo’s identity at about 5 p.m. last Thursday, when his mother told them about his scheduled flight that night.

Sources, however, said they believe police and NBI officials did not exert enough effort to get in touch with concerned authorities in Manila to prevent Afalla’s flight.

"We just wonder why it took them so long to contact the immigration (bureau) when the NBI and the PNP are nationwide organizations which have a broad network of agents," one of the sources said.

But Verdadero said his men tried their best to coordinate with the NBI office here headed by lawyer Norman Taloza.

"The phones were ringing and nobody was answering us," Verdadero quoted NBI personnel who contacted the NBI satellite office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Taloza could not be reached for comment.

Police here sent two investigators to Taytay, Rizal where the Afallas resided to gather more evidence. Investigators were looking into the possibility that the crime took place there and that the victims’ bodies were merely dumped here.

Verdadero said they are now coordinating with the Interpol and are trying to contact authorities in Miami to get Afalla back to the country.

The Afalla family arrived here last March 30 for a vacation with the relatives of Danilo, who returned home for his regular vacation last March 7.

On April 2, they were said to be going to Baguio City. Since then, nothing was heard about the family until the bodies of Recy and their children were found last Wednesday.

Investigators said they believe the victims were tortured first before they were strangled to death. Based on autopsy reports, their heads were severely pummeled, with Michael Angelo apparently suffering the most with his head almost crushed and dislocated.

The mother and her three children were tied with wire and their bodies wrapped with bedsheets and floor mats.