Cops looking for gun used to kill woman

CEBU, Philippines - Naga police are now looking for a neighbor of spouses Francisco and Endridia Alpar for allegedly keeping the handgun used to kill Endridia last Tuesday dawn in Barangay West Poblacion, Naga City.

SPO2 Saul Alejandria said they are trying to convince the man to surrender the gun or else they will file appropriate charges against him.  He declined to name the person for now.

“Mao kuno ang gatago sa armas mao’y sulti sa anak sa namatay amo pa sad gi-establish ug pwede ba ma-filan og kaso,” he said in a phone interview.

Francisco took his wife to the hospital last Tuesday and claimed that she died of cardiac arrest. Embalmers later found out three gunshot wounds in Endridia’s abdomen, apparently already cleaned of blood.

Alejandria said obstruction of justice will be filed against the man. Police are just waiting for the complainant to execute an affidavit.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador also said a full-blown investigation will be made right after they received the result of the paraffin test on Francisco.

Comendador said they will raise the case to parricide if proven that Francisco killed Endridia..

“We are also checking for witnesses for circumstantial evidence,” Comendador said.

Meanwhile, the doctors at the Minglanilla District Hospital should have heard the side of Endridia’s relatives before finally declaring that she died of cardiac arrest, said PNP Crime Laboratory-7 chief Nestor Sator.

Moreover, Sator said since Endridia didn’t die in the hospital, the hospital doctors should have referred the diagnosis to a rural health physician or a medico-legal officer.

“Mas maayo, kung naa’y namatay unya ang wife or husband lang ang makigstorya sa doctor, siguro kinahanglan i-confer pud na sa mga relatives by sanguinity sama sa igsoon o ginikanan mismo sa namatay,” Sator explained.

Sator further said that the doctors can declare the cause of death after examining the body first, which is a standard procedure.

“Considering naa na’y mga sensyales na mao’y naka-cause og pagduda, kinahanglan g’yud ma-examine ang lawas,” said Sator, who will be conducting the autopsy on the cadaver following a request from the police.

Should the family refuse to have the body autopsied, the Crime Lab chief said the case investigator will have to push for it.

“Kay kining mga victims of homicide or murder, automatically ang body ana already belongs to the state, in line with the quest for truth and justice,” Sator said.

After he took his wife’s body to the hospital, police then arrested Francisco for obstruction of justice, suspecting that he is trying to conceal what might have actually happened.  He was subjected to a paraffin test.  (FREEMAN)