Model: I’m not Valera’s girl

A 25-year-old fashion model denied yesterday that she is the girlfriend of Abra Gov. Vicente Valera, who is accused of involvement in the killing of Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr.

Appearing at the National Bureau of Investigation, Hergielyn Dimagiba said the 61-year-old Valera is a "family friend" who has entrusted to her 52-year-old father the breeding of his fighting cocks.

On the day Valera was arrested, he had gone to the Dimagiba house in Quezon City to discuss with her father, Regino, their fighting cocks, she added.

The former Bb. Pilipinas and Ms. Quezon City candidate said she became acquainted with Valera during the Aliw Awards at the Manila Hotel in September last year.

She accompanied Valera when he bought a Suburban sports utility vehicle in Mandaluyong last Nov. 28, she added.

Accompanied by her parents and her lawyer Oscar Martinez, Dimagiba told Regional Director Ruel Lasala at the NBI on Taft Avenue, Manila that she chose to give her statement to the NBI instead of the Philippine National Police.

"I am here to show all the documents," she said.

Speaking to reporters, Dimagiba accused media of misusing a picture taken of her with Valera during the Aliw Awards.

"It is unfair that they would show these pictures," she said. "It was taken in a public place. I am a model, have been to different places and I have had my picture taken with other people such as (boxing champion) Manny Pacquiao.

"Does this also mean that I am also Pacquiao’s girlfriend? I was shocked when my pictures were shown on television. I was with a group of people and I demand an apology."

In the actual photograph that she presented to Lasala, there were two others with them.

Dimagiba also denied that their property came from Valera.

Their family also owns a Ford Lynx and Toyota Revo and operates a canteen and computer shop in Caloocan City, she added.

Meanwhile, Valera accused the police yesterday of "fishing for evidence" to link him to the murder of Bersamin.

In an interview with The STAR, Valera said police have mistaken his personal driver, Roberto Sayao for Freddie Dupo, the alleged mastermind in the killing of Bersamin at Mount Carmel Church in New Manila, Quezon City last Dec. 16.

"The Task Force investigators headed by one Superintendent Benjamin delos Santos have really been fishing for evidence to pin me down and this is already a form of harassment and (is) unfair," he said.

Valera, who has declined a police invitation for him to give a statement on allegations against him, said Sayao was a look-alike of Dupo.

However, police continued to float in media the disinformation that "Dupo was with me during that time when in fact, it was not true," he added.

Rufino Panday, the confessed lookout in Bersamin’s killing, had pointed to Dupo as the mastermind after police had arrested him.

Panday told police that Dupo had informed him that Valera paid them P5 million to kill Bersamin.

However, police and legal experts said Panday’s statement is hearsay that cannot link Valera to the murder.

Sayao surfaced the other day to confirm before reporters that he was a look-alike of Dupo.

He denied police claims that Dupo was with them when they bought the Suburban of Valera.

Last Friday, Dupo, who is in hiding somewhere in the Ilocos region, called up Bombo Radyo in Vigan City to deny any participation in the killing of Bersamin and to clear Valera.

Panday is set to be arraigned before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court today.

The court reset his arraignment for today because he was not represented by a lawyer last Tuesday.

When the court told Panday at that time that a public attorney was ready to represent him, he said that he would like to hire his own lawyer. Panday is detained at the Quezon City police jail.

Assistant Quezon City Prosecutor Raymund Jonathan Lledo said the court must first resolve the government’s motion for the consolidation of the double murder and double frustrated homicide cases filed in other courts against Panday before the arraignment could be set.

"My motion to consolidate the cases against Panday must first be resolved," he said.

"After a review it appears that both offenses were similar information filed against the accused for the frustrated murder pending before branch 84 of this Honorable Court."

Panday was the only one charged in court because the 10 other suspects are at large, Lledo said.

Panday, who implicated Valera in the killing, is among the four suspects identified by police as the killers of Bersamin.

Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula, Quezon City police chief, said Valera has sent a letter to the Criminal Investigation Unit regretting that he cannot yet honor the invitation because of security reasons.

"We cannot force him to appear, that is his right," he said.

Gatdula said charges have already been filed against the other suspects: former La Paz, Abra town vice mayor Freddie Dupo, Dominador Barbosa, Sunny Taculao, and seven unidentified persons who are now the subject of a massive police manhunt.

Lledo made the manifestation to consolidate the charges against Panday during last Tuesday’s arraignment for the murder of Bersamin.

The court reset Panday’s arraignment today because of the lack of legal counsel to represent him last Tuesday.

Bersamin was leaving Mount Carmel Church after attending a wedding when he was shot dead last Dec. 16. — With Myds Supnad, Perseus Echeminada