SC reinstates arrest warrant, HDO vs slain racer’s wife

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday reinstated the warrant issued for the arrest of Dalia Guerrero over her alleged involvement as co-conspirator in the killing of her husband, racer Enzo Pastor, in 2014. The SC Second Division reversed the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissing the parricide case filed against Dalia.

The high tribunal also reinstated the hold departure order against Dalia, who remains at large.

The SC upheld the prosecution’s finding of probable cause against her.

Based on court records, Pastor was in a truck heading to Clark, Pampanga with his mechanic, Paolo Salazar, when they were ambushed while stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Visayas and Congressional Avenues in Quezon City.

A man approached the truck and fired at Enzo, killing him at the scene.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Dalia and Domingo de Guzman III as the alleged masterminds.

The alleged gunman, former police officer Edgar Angel, was also charged.

Angel and De Guzman were arrested.

The trial court issued arrest and hold departure orders against Dalia, which she questioned before the appeals court.

The CA dismissed the parricide complaint filed against Dalia for lack of probable cause, saying Angel failed to identify her as the mastermind.

However, in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, the SC said there was “sufficient evidence” identifying Dalia as a co-conspirator in Pastor’s murder.

The SC gave weight to the statement of Dalia’s house helper that she and De Guzman were lovers and that Enzo had confronted her about it.

De Guzman allegedly showed Angel a picture of Dalia with bruises and asked the latter to kill Enzo for beating her up, the SC said.

The high court also noted the statement of self-proclaimed gun-for-hire Alvin Nidua, who said Dalia and De Guzman offered him P200,000 to kill Enzo.

Nidua said he rejected the offer because the amount was too low.

“Dalia’s acts, as stated above, show that she not only served as a strong motivation to carry out the murder plan, but she had an active hand in planning the ambush of Pastor. Too, her abrupt absence after a warrant of arrest was issued against her lends credence to the prosecution’s case that she is probably guilty of the offense charged,” the SC ruling read.