Cops file raps vs Kawit suspect

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – Charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder were filed yesterday by police investigators against John Paul Lopez, house caretaker of slain gunman Ronald Bae, for his alleged participation in the shooting rampage in Kawit, Cavite last Friday.

Bae killed seven persons and wounded 10 others before he was shot dead by policemen.

Lopez was said to have aided Bae during the shooting spree by reloading his .45 caliber pistol.

But the suspect claimed that Bae threatened and forced him to reload the firearm.

Senior Superintendent Bernabe Balba, regional director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 4-A, said video footage taken during the shooting spree as well as testimonies from eyewitnesses will be used as evidence against Lopez.

Cavite police director Senior Superintendent Alexander Rafael told The STAR that the alibi of Lopez, who has been the caretaker of Bae’s house in Kawit for 13 years, was weak and not acceptable.

Lopez, he said, tested positive for drugs.

He added that the accused, who underwent inquest proceedings before the Imus City Prosecutor’s Office, will remain in the custody of the Imus CIDG.

‘No conflict of interest’

Meanwhile, Cavite Provincial Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco sees no reason to recuse himself from the preliminary investigation into the shooting spree in Kawit despite reported links to the family of Bae.

“I will not inhibit in this case. There is no conflict of interest,” he told reporters at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila yesterday.

Velasco also clarified a report that Bae used to work for their family as security aide to his father, former National Bureau of Investigation director and Cavite governor Epimaco Velasco.

“He was never an aide of my dad. It was his father Rodolfo who served as security aide of dad during his term as governor. His brother Rodel also became an aide, but not Ronald,” he said of the crazed gunman who was killed by police officers Payuran Jymil, Servento Christopher, Gerry Cambarihan and Jaspher Paul Aspiras.

The fiscal believes he could be objective in resolving the complaint filed by police against Lopez. – With Mike Frialde, Edu Punay