PNP: Missing Pilapil niece now a suspect

MANILA, Philippines - The abduction and frustrated murder of veteran actress Pilar Pilapil took a strange twist after police announced yesterday that her niece and companion at the time of the attack in Marikina City was now a suspect.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said the CIDG-Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Pilapil is now hot on the trail of Rosel Jacosalem Peñas, who was with the actress when she was abducted and left for dead in Antipolo, Rizal last April 14.

“Right at the beginning, there was an effort to look for Rosel. We were looking at her as a victim because according to the accounts made by Pilapil, she was with Peñas at that time she was forcibly taken by two men in a car. With this development, the search has stopped for a missing victim and has now shifted to a manhunt for Rosel,” Pagdilao said during a press briefing at the CIDG office.

SITG Pilapil chief Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel said all information made by Peñas to Pilapil were false and nonexistent and investigators said Pilapil’s accounts were corroborated by evidence.

“We have noted that there were several inconsistencies given by Rosel to Pilapil, concerning first her employment records, her travel records and her personal relationship with members of her family,” Coronel said. “On this basis, we considered Peñas as a suspect in this case.”

He said investigators gathered that in the morning of April 15, the day after the attack, Peñas was seen driving a beige KIA Carens (CIZ-888) in front of her house in Manila. The description of the vehicle matched with the vehicle in the account of Pilapil.

Pagdilao said the investigation is now focusing on the actual participation of Peñas and the other suspects. He had already ordered a manhunt operation against Peñas and the two alleged male suspects.

He said the CIDG has provided personal security to Pilapil, who was discharged from hospital last Good Friday after a weeklong treatment of stab wounds after the attack.

According to Pilapil, Peñas was driving a KIA Carens when she fetched her from Robinsons Galleria last April 14. The vehicle turned out to be registered to a certain Romeo Jose de la Cuesta of Villamor II, Sabater, Caloocan City.

De la Cuesta was summoned to shed light on the incident.

Pagdilao said with the help of witnesses who provided vital information, some missing pieces of the puzzle had been supplied leading to a clearer picture of what really happened before, during and after the incident.

“As a consequence, suspects had been identified and certain details about the missing KIA vehicle that was used in the commission of the crime had been established,” he said.

Pagdilao noted that Peñas’ failure to surface after the incident and the fictitious circumstances surrounding her personality have convinced authorities that she is a suspect and not a victim.

Aside from previous findings that she was not connected to a multinational company as what she told Pilapil, CIDG investigators found out based on a record check at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that Peñas did not leave the country, contrary to what she told Pilapil that she was in Australia prior to the incident.

Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Maria Antonette Bucasa-Mangrobang said Peñas might still be in the country. BI records showed that the suspect has no departure record from 1993 up until yesterday.

“As far as the international airports and seaports are concerned, she has not left the country, but it did not say if she passed through the backdoor,” said Mangrobang.

When asked if the BI would place her in its watchlist, Mangrobang said the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary has the authority to do such thing.

PNP: Not a carjacking case

Coronel said the Pilapil case is no longer a case of carjacking since there was no report of such incident at the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG). He said that according to witnesses, Peñas was already in control and possession of the vehicle since last November.

The SITG chief appealed to the public who may have knowledge on the whereabouts of Peñas, whose picture the CIDG has released to the media last week, to report the information to the SITG hotline 722-1206.

Coronel said the police are considering filing a case of robbery with serious physical injuries against Peñas and the two male suspects.

“We are now looking at the possibility of a case of complex crime of robbery with physical injuries. Of course there has been an attempt to kill her (Pilapil), according to the doctors’ examination and results of exam it was life threatening,” he said. – Evelyn Macairan