Court sends Pigon to Cebu City Jail

The Regional Trial Court yesterday denied the motion of Arnulfo Pigon Jr. to remain in custody of the National Bureau of Investigation, and ordered him detained in the Cebu City Jail in barangay Kalunasan during the duration of his trial for the murder of former Santa Fe mayor, Rogelio Illustrisimo.

Pigon, a 38-year-old, former policeman of the Mandaue City Police, arrived in Cebu yesterday accompanied by NBI agents from Manila where he sought for protective custody since May last year. The NBI brought him to Cebu City based on a warrant of arrest issued against him for the killing of Illustrisimo.

The NBI men then turned Pigon over to RTC Judge Ester Veloso, who immediately heard his motion, through his lawyer Norma Torribio, to stay under NBI protection for security reasons while his case is being heard. The judge however junked his plea for lack of merit then sent him later to detention.

The prosecution and the defense lawyers have agreed to set Pigon’s arraignment on January 28 when he is supposed to declare himself in court as either guilty or innocent to the charges.

Pigon has been accused of gunning down Illustrisimo outside the Commission on Elections provincial office at the Capitol compound a few days before the last May elections.

Illustrisimo was killed shortly after he got out the Comelec provincial office where a hearing was held for a disqualification case filed against him by Domingo Zaspa, his opponent for the mayoralty post of Santa Fe.

He denied the accusations with his alibi that he was in Antipolo City when the killing took place. The prosecutor’s office however found probable cause to file the case against him in court.

There were several witnesses who reportedly pointed at Pigon as the gunman who could have been hired allegedly by Zaspa, who in turn was cleared by the prosecutor’s office for lack of evidence.

Cebu City Police director Patrocinio Comendador earlier said the police have sufficient evidence to indict Zaspa for the Illustrisimo murder, based on the “implied conspiracy theory,” which has not been established until now anyway.

“We already established probable cause against Zaspa. We have witnesses linking him to Pigon,” Comendador recently said referring to the accounts of some witnesses who claimed they saw Zaspa met with Pigon at a hotel after Illustrisimo was killed. — Fred P. Languido and Rene U. Borromeo/RAE