CEBU, Philippines — Two persons of interest in the death of a former Grab driver were arrested in an entrapment operation last Monday night.
Regional Highway Patrol Group (HPG) 7 in Central Visayas chief Supt. Hershan Mojica said in an interview that a bluish black Nissan Almera sold online fits the description of the vehicle that was reported missing in their office.
Suspects arrested were Anthony Decierdo, 31, and Paul Christian Go, 21, who were supposed to sell the car at P379,000 to the undercover cops.
The missing vehicle has a temporary plate number of OY 2428 while the recovered vehicle was already replaced with OX 5377. Some features of the vehicle matched with the missing one.
Mojica said that the two are still considered as persons of interest in relation to the murder of Jiboy Delos Reyes, 31, from Sibonga, because there is no evidence yet that will link them to the killing.
"We cannot discount the possibility of considering them as persons of interest since naa man nila ang sakyanan," Mojica said.
For now the two are charged with carnapping.
In a separate interview with the suspects, they denied the allegations and said they are also victims.
Go claimed that a man sold the car to them.
"Giprenda sa amoa ang sakyanan pag November 9. Naa sa amoa ang tanang papeles ana. Wala gyud ko'y idea ana. Na shock lang mi nga gipara mi yesterday, in fact convoy mi, at least. Niuban lang ko kay gusto ko makahibalo sa nahitabo," Go said.
On the other hand, Chief Insp. Roger Quijano of Asturias police said that they will be investigating deeper as they look for evidence against the suspects.
It was recently reported that Delos Reyes was positively identified by her wife Marites last Saturday, 17 days after he was found dead in the hinterland of Barangay Langub, Asturias town.
Authorities had a hard time identifying the dead person who was hogtied and bludgeoned to death using a metal object.
Delos Reyes was buried by the funeral homes that accepted his cadaver. His wife later had his remains exhumed.
The wife, in a radio interview, said that his husband was no longer with Grab when the incident took place but was a private driver of the car's owner.
Quijano said the victim was killed in another place and thrown to the area where he was found.
He added robbery is considered as motive. — MBG (FREEMAN)