Suspect in killing of ex-mayor faces illegal possession raps

CEBU, Philippines – One of the suspects in the killing of former Compostela Mayor Joselito Reynes was charged yesterday before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office for illegal possession of firearms.

Dominador Viloria, Sr. is facing charges for allegedly possessing one caliber .357 revolver with five live ammunitions caliber .357 without a serial number and without the necessary permit.

Viloria's son, Dominador Jr. is also facing a similar charge after a .45 caliber Colt revolver with five live ammunitions when the father and son were arrested last August 6 after a motorcycle chase.

The separate murder complaint against Viloria, Sr. was not filed yesterday, as the death certificate of Reynes was not attached to the complaint.

Reynes was shot to death by two unidentified motorcycle riding men last August 2 in the northern town of Compostela.

A group composed of personnel from the Regional Intelligence Division, PRO-7, Cebu Police Provincial Office, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and PNP Crime Laboratory was subsequently formed to investigate and the crime.

A witness named Sheena Marie Esther Dangoy Maru, waitress of Tropical Hut Beach in Compostela, positively identified Viloria, Sr. as the same person who was with another suspect identified as Wilson Pasaol the night Reynes was gunned down.

Maru, together with intelligence operatives PO2 Kenneth Bandong and PO2 Wadden Teologo and personnel from the Cebu Provincial Police Office, then went to barangay Mulao in Compostela after receiving intelligence reports that Viloria, Sr. was residing in the barangay.

There, they saw two men on board a motorcycle with policemen tailing them and ordering them to stop. However, the two men, identified later as Viloria Sr. and Viloria Jr., stopped, left the motorcycle, and ran away.

In their joint affidavit, Bandong and Teologo said Viloria, Sr. pulled out a revolver from his hip while running.

"We chased them until they run inside a house. We run after them inside the house, where we finally able to subdue them," the affidavit reads. (THE FREEMAN)