Ecleo follower denies killing Cebuano lawyer

CEBU CITY — The main suspect in the killing of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco denied the charges against him in a 65-page counter-affidavit he submitted to the city prosecutor’s office the other day.

Michel Favila, a follower of cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., cited six main arguments in his defense:

• The witnesses identified two different suspects;

• There are disparities in the description of the gunman’s general appearance;

• The testimonies of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) allegedly contradict each other;

• The CIDG allegedly does not have an independent, fair and judicious judgment;

• It was physically impossible for him to commit the crime; and

• There was no probable cause to warrant the filing of the murder complaint against him.

"The allegations in the affidavit-complaint and sworn statements of the witnesses of the CIDG are totally implausible, against human experience, selective, and full of material contradictions and irreconcilable inconsistencies," Favila said.

"Worse, the manner of investigation conducted by the CIDG is irregular, unreliable, not credible and highly suspect, hence (it) does not deserve any modicum of credence," he added.

Favila argued that the categorical description of the witnesses on the gunman’s physical appearance is "noticeably different" from his.

"The witnesses may have allegedly identified me positively in the picture shown to them by the CIDG as the gunman or having the semblance of the gunman but their explicit identification and description as regards the height of the gunman undeniably belies their alleged positive identification of me," he said.

Like what his lawyer previously did, Favila also questioned the action of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in summoning Yongco’s two helpers to a three-hour interrogation.

The IBP’s move, he claimed, prompted the two helpers to retract their earlier statements describing a man far different from him.

If, indeed, the two recanted their previous statements voluntarily, Favila said the IBP could have made them execute affidavits before the National Bureau of Investigation, which had custody of them.

Favila said he was charged for Yongco’s death supposedly to implicate Ecleo as the mastermind of the killing considering that Yongco was the private prosecutor in the parricide case against the cult leader.

"With all honesty, I did not commit the crime imputed against me. I was in Barangay Talaga, Cagayancillo, Palawan, on the time and day the good lawyer was gunned down inside her law office in Cebu City in the morning of Oct. 11, 2004," he said.

"It is very physically impossible for me to be in Cebu City or within the immediate vicinity of Sikatuna and Alcohol streets, Cebu City on the day of the shooting incident as Barangay Talaga, Cagayancillo, Palawan is a geographically faraway place from Cebu," he added.

He said all his neighbors who attended a general assembly meeting on Oct. 11 executed sworn statements supporting his claim. — Freeman News Service