Police: Case strong vs. Ting "killer"

CEBU, Philippines -   The police claim they have a strong case against Ruel Velez, the alleged assailant of hotelier Manuel Ting who was ambushed last June 22 even as a lawyer questioned the validity of his arrest.

Questions came out regarding the legality of the arrest since Velez, who was arrested last Monday based on the positive identification of two eyewitnesses, was arrested several days after the crime.

Chief Supt. Lani-O Nerez, Director of Police Regional Office-7, stood firm that the arrest was still covered under hot pursuit operation.

“Ang court na bahala mo-check sa legality of the arrest basta under hot pursuit operation pa to,” Nerez said.

Nerez also clarified that the suspect did not surrender to the authorities, but was arrested.

“Tinuod na miari si Ruel Velez sa Cebu City to clear his name, but pag-identify sa two witnesses ngadto niya, that’s a different story,” he said.

The PRO-7 director said that the positive identification of the witnesses is a big boost to their investigation, saying it also strengthens the case. When asked for a criminal lawyer’s point of view, lawyer Noel Archival agrees that the police have a strong case because they have two witnesses.

However, Archival said the arrest is not valid as it is no longer covered under hot pursuit operation and that the suspect was not caught in the act of committing the crime.

“No doubt that continuous ang ilang investigation, but as to the hot pursuit operation, that’s another story. You call it hot when right after the crime was committed, na-identify dayon ang suspect ‘nya gi-hunt g’yud until madakpan siya. But it took several days for them to arrest the suspect,” Archival said. 

Archival added that the arrest is not valid because the police have no personal knowledge that the person they are pursuing is the murderer.

“Ma-hu’g na ‘na nga hearsay because it was only the witness ang nagsulti sa pulis na mao na ang killer, third party na man ‘na sila. The police should have personal knowledge that the person they are hunting down is the suspect,” Archival said.

The police reportedly identified Velez as the assailant in Ting’s murder two days after the crime, but Archival insisted that the identification is still not covered under pursuit operation.

“The crime murder is not a continuing offense unlike rebellion. If a person is arrested for rebellion, that is called under hot pursuit operation kay continuing offense man ‘na. But right after sa murder, if dili pa ma-identify dayon ang suspect ‘nya the authorities stop hunting, dili na ‘na hot, cold na ‘na,” Archival said in jest.

Velez, 44, a resident of barangay Ocaña, Carcar City, was arrested last Monday afternoon outside a mall in the city. He was tagged by witnesses as the one who shot the businessman dead in Barangay Tisa.

Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Director of Cebu City Police Office and member of the Task Force Ting, said that two days after the killing of Ting they had already identified Velez and tried to arrest him in his house in Carcar City, but they did not reach him on time as he had left for Ozamiz City.

The task force then started making contact with Velez, through a police official previously based in the said city.

Reportedly because of the pressure the police were putting up at Velez, the latter decided to return to Cebu City, but on the reason that he only wanted to clear his name.

Right now, Task Force Ting is gathering additional evidences to identify the mastermind.

Nerez said that if Velez, allegedly a known drug pusher and gun-for-hire, continues to be uncooperative, they have other ways to pin the mastermind and eventually solve the case. — /BRP, (FREEMANNEWS)