Fiscal handling Customs men’s slay gets threat

CEBU CITY — The prosecutor handling the preliminary investigation into the recent killing of two Customs officers here is wary of his safety after a suspicious person came to him last week and warned him to be careful.

Assistant city prosecutor Victor Laborte said the unidentified person entered his cubicle last Thursday and told him, "You better be careful," and left in haste.

He said he did not take it seriously but later on he realized that it could be a threat to his life considering the high-profile case that he is now handling.

Although he said it could also be related to the rape cases he is handling where one of the respondents is Chinese, the timing of the incident points to the case on the ambush-slaying of Customs deputy collector Eduardo Lao and examiner Bennet Soreño.

Laborte said the incident happened a day after the Lao-Soreño case was assigned to him for preliminary investigation.

Asked if he needs police protection, Laborte said he could be better off with a prayer.

However, he said he reported the incident to acting city prosecutor Jose Pedrosa in the hope that Pedrosa could ask City Hall that a firearm be issued to him. Pedrosa promised to do so.

Meanwhile, Laborte has notified the two accused, Juan Vergel de Dios and Rustico Fernandez, both errand boys of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Division, to file their counter-affidavits within 10 days.

Laborte said he may or may not call for a preliminary conference should the two fail to submit the documents.

The summonses were served at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center where Vergel de Dios and Fernandez are detained.

Lao and Soreño were on board Lao’s blue Isuzu Trooper on their way to Lao’s residence when two men on board a Yamaha motorbike fired at them at the corner of Osmeña Boulevard and R. Landon street here.

Vergel de Dios earlier admitted having driven the motorcycle but later recanted, saying he does not even know how to drive a motorcycle.

Fernandez, for his part, denied the allegations, claiming that he was in a basketball court in Sambag 1 at the time of the ambush.

Several witnesses have executed sworn statements linking the two to the killing. — Freeman News Service