On Archival slay investigation: CCTVs eyed to ID killers

CEBU, Philippines -  The task group created to look into the slaying of prominent lawyer Noel Archival and two of his companions the other day is looking at recordings of close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in southern Cebu to help identify their killers.

The Special Investigation Task Group Archival is hopeful that the two vehicles the gunmen rode were captured by CCTV cameras in Carcar City and the neighboring towns before reaching Barangay Coro, Dalaguete, Cebu, where Archival, Edu Miñoza, and Alejandro Jaime, all residents of  Barangay Talamban, Cebu City, were slain.

“Dako ni og matabang sa atong imbestigasyon aron atong makita ang mga plate numbers sa mga sakyanan, (The footages would be a big help in our investigation because we could hopefully see the vehicles’ license plates),” said Supt. Renato Malazarte, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) deputy provincial director for operation and task group spokesperson.

Yesterday afternoon, PNP officials met at the CPPO headquarters for a case conference on the incident.

Aside from CPPO Director Noel Gillamac, Senior Supt. Armando Radoc, Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division chief, was seen joining the conference, which Provincial Investigation and Detection Branch Chief Rodolfo Albotra and Dalaguete Police Chief Rico Emperwa also attended.

Reporters tried to interview the police officials but they all declined to issue any statement.

Malazarte, though, said they are seeking help from all concerned PNP units in solving the attack, which he said was the work of professional killers.

“We are meeting with all the intelligence community of the entire province of Cebu to help us in the investigation because this is a high-profile case,” he told a press conference.

“Dili basta-basta nga tao si Archival.  Professional gyud ang namusil pero dili sila (Archival was not just any ordinary person.  His killers were professionals, but were not) affiliated with or are former members of law enforcement agencies,” Malazarte added.

The task group, which includes the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the Highway Patrol Unit, PNP Crime Laboratory-7, and the Dalaguete Police Station, is headed by Senior Supt. Gillamac, CCPO director.

Malazarte said they are looking at all possible hiding places of the gunmen, but he declined to disclose if they have already left the province so as not to jeopardize the police’s follow-up operations.

The task group is also looking for possible witnesses of the crime.

Asked if the killing has something to do with the robbery case Archival was handling in  Dumaguete City, as he just came from a hearing there when killed, Malazarte likewise declined to comment, only saying that it was “work-related.”

Archival was returning to Cebu City after representing Jesuslou Elcarte Alegria, alleged mastermind of a pawnshop heist in Dumaguete last year, after a hearing at the Regional Trial Court-Branch 38 last Tuesday when ambushed in Dalaguete.

Alegria, 42, of Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, was arrested after he and several other accomplices, who are still at large, allegedly robbed Agencia Belen Pawnshop in downtown Dumaguete and escaped with around P5 million in jewelry.

The stolen items were later recovered by authorities.

The task group also intends to interview Paulo Cortez, the only survivor of the attack who is currently confined at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

 â€œBasin kita gyud siya sa mga nawong.  Hinuon wala mi timeframe sa maong kaso, pero ang giingon ni PD walay tulogay kinahanglan masulbad ni (Cortez may have seen the faces of the gunmen. Although Gillamac did not set a timeframe, the CPPO director told us not to sleep until we solve the case),” Malazarte said.

The task group has provided Cortez security while he is still recuperating at the hospital.

Malazarte assured the police would also give security to those who would come out as witnesses.

Before Archival was killed, a red Toyota Hi-Lux overtook the lawyer’s Ford Escape (YGE 240), which was tailed by another but black-colored Toyota Hi-Lux. Cortez told the police that the red vehicle would not let Archival overtake and the black one kept driving close behind them.

Cortez said that after several failed attempts to box them in, the black vehicle accelerated and drove alongside them. It was then that unidentified men inside the black vehicle fired at Archival’s SUV repeatedly, hitting all four occupants.

The police said the SUV had 31 bullet holes and that they also recovered two M16 bullet slugs from the crime scene.

Almost P40,000 cash was recovered from the lawyer’s pocket. Responding policemen also found a loaded 9mm pistol under the driver’s seat.

Chief Insp. Felinio Brunia, PNP Crime Laboratory-7 medico-legal officer, said that while Archival and his two slain companions suffered gunshot wounds to the body, what killed them were the bullets to the head.

“Walang bala sa katawan fragments lang; at lahat sila patay sa tama ng bala sa ulo (No bullets, just fragments, were recovered from their bodies; but they died due to a bullet wound to the head),”Brunia said.

The crime laboratory is conducting a trajectory examination on the SUV to determine bullet entry and exit points; initial investigation, however, showed that the victims were fired at from the left side of the vehicle.

Reporters saw bullet trajectory experts checking and posting arrow-shaped papers with pen marks identifying the bullet holes in Archival’s SUV yesterday. They, however, declined to answer questions from the media.

As of press time, it is not yet clear who were the culprits and the person or persons behind the slaying and where the gunmen went after the incident. —/RHM (FREEMAN)