The city prosecutor’s office is holding in abeyance any action on the murder complaint against PO1 Ranulfo Pigon, the main suspect in the shooting of Sta. Fe town mayoralty aspirant Rogelio Illustrisimo.
Chief prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said that while the complaint is now “ripe for resolution,” no action will be undertaken until the Department of Justice says so.
The resolution of the complaint was halted after Pigon requested that the preliminary investigation of his case be transferred to Manila. As opposed to Pigon’s claim, the prosecutor’s office said that it has not received any complaint nor received reports of alleged threats to Pigon’s life here in Cebu City.
But Sellon said that until the DOJ gives word to continue resolving the complaint, it has to be set aside. He clarified that it is also his discretion to actually pursue resolving the complaint but it would be proper to wait for the decision of the DOJ.
Sellon said that if there is still no word from the DOJ by next week, he will personally seek advice from the department.
Authorities tagged Pigon as the alleged assailant in Illustrisimo’s shooting last May 2. Police also indicted Illustrisimo’s political rival, Domingo Zaspa, as the alleged brains behind the killing. Pigon is a former operative of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team in Mandaue City.
Pigon cried foul over his implication into the killing claiming that he was framed. He then asked that the case be remanded to the National Bureau of Investigation and the DOJ in Manila for reinvestigation.
Zaspa also denied the charges, saying he cannot be implicated just because he happened to be in the premises when Illustrisimo was shot. He also belied the statements of policemen Albert Luardo and Roy Carlo Veloso that they saw him and Pigon allegedly talking at the lobby of an uptown hotel a day after the shooting.
Illustrisimo was shot outside the provincial Commission on Elections office shortly before noon on May 2 shortly after the hearing of the disqualification case Zaspa filed against him. — Joeberth M. Ocao/BRP