CEBU, Philippines - The barangay captain of Inayagan, Naga City, Narciso Tablate, testified in court yesterday that the Scene of the Crime Operations personnel did not tamper with the license plates of the Mitsubishi Pajero owned by Bella Ruby Santos.
Tablate told Regional Trial Court Branch 13 Judge Meinrado Paredes he was there in the residence of Santos during the implementation of the search warrant last March 4.
He said only the SOCO operatives who approached the Pajero when the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group came to serve the search warrant.
Tablate also confirmed the photographs showed by the lawyer of the CIDG, Inocencio dela Cerna, that he saw the vehicle cordoned off.
He also said he did not focus on the license plate of the vehicle.
Tablate said he only signed the receipt of the seized items, with the Pajero’s license plate numbers penned LMJ-382.
Sun Star photojournalist Arni Aclao said he only took a photograph of the vehicle on April 8, 2011 when it was already under the custody of the CIDG.
The photograph shows the numbers as LMJ-382 and not LHJ-382.
“I don’t know if the plate number was tampered but I can show to the court the original copy of the picture through my laptop,” Aclao said.
However, Santos’ lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo said what the CIDG presented in court was another fabrication.
“The picture they presented and showing it to Tablate was a fabricated picture, the plate number was tampered by them,” Villagonzalo said.
Paredes also reviewed the evidence presented in court yesterday after the CIDG filed a motion for partial reconsideration asking the court to retain the vehicle seized under their custody.
Paredes added the motion for reconsideration was risky as it means they have to review the decision and all of the evidence presented in court.
Witnesses for the CIDG also said they only knew it was LMJ-382 when they implemented the search warrant and claimed it was tampered by the respondent.
They said they did not mislead the court when they applied for LHJ-382 and not LMJ-382.
SPO1 Willard Silibio, one of the witnesses who applied for the search warrant said, their witnesses claimed they saw a vehicle with license plate numbers LHJ-382 in barangay Sayaw, Barili, during the dumping of the body of Ellah Joy Pique.
Six-year-old Pique was kidnapped before being found dead last February.
Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Police Office chief Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador said had Tablate not condoned a cybersex den operation in his barangay, Pique may have not been killed.
Comendador was pertaining to a cybersex den allegedly being operated in Inayagan by Santos.
“If gi-report pa dayon ‘nang cybersex operation diha sa iyang area of jurisdiction. Dili unta to mahitabo kang Ellah Joy,” Comendador told reporters yesterday.
Comendador said it has been known in the barangay that Santos is operating a cybersex den but barangay officials, according to Comendador’s source, did not report it to authorities.
It was also reported earlier that Tablate allegedly tried to prevent his tanods from cooperating with operatives of the CIDG during the March 4 search on Santos’ house.
“Human nga wala niya gi-report (cybersex operation), he is now siding with the respondent. We cannot afford na palabyon lang ni. We are not staying on the sideline,” Comendador said.
As to the report that the police are harassing the supporters of Santos in Inayagan by deploying policemen in the area, Comendador said this is just part of their ongoing investigation.
Comendador also claimed they had the chance to talk with one of Santos’ relatives in Inayagan who said he is convinced Santos was involved in the abduction and killing of Pique. (FREEMAN)