Barangay chairman faces re-arrest

A Valenzuela barangay chief earlier held by the police for the murder of six factory workers and later freed by the Caloocan City regional trial court faces rearrest after the police moved for the refiling of the multiple murder case against him in court.

Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton said he is now waiting for the Caloocan court to issue an arrest warrant on Graciano "Garcing" Victoriano, chairman of Barangay Bignay in Valenzuela City.

"I have filed a motion for reconsideration with (Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Presiding) Judge Eleanor Kwong and personally talked with (Justice) Secretary Raul Gonzalez about it. He has ordered the refiling of the case," said Cuaton, chief of the Caloocan City Station Investigation and Detective Management Bureau.

Cuaton added that Kwong has written that his motion for reconsideration has been rendered moot and academic because the case has been refiled by the city prosecutor’s office "on orders of Secretary Gonzalez."

The case has been raffled off last week to Caloocan RTC Judge Luisito Sardillo, who is on leave.

A member of Sardillo’s staff told The STAR that the murder case will be coursed through Judge Victoriano Cabanos, the pairing judge. The issuance of the arrest warrant will then be at the discretion of either judges.

Victoriano and co-accused Richard Flor were ordered released on Nov. 22 by Kwong based on a motion to withdraw filed by Assistant Prosecutor Nestor Dabalos.

Dabalos earlier confirmed to The STAR that the surviving heirs of the six murder victims have filed affidavits of desistance, the basis of withdrawing the case, after agreeing to settle amicably with the accused.

Victoriano, along with eight others, was accused of shooting to death six factory workers from Meycauayan, Bulacan, in Oct. 1 this year.

Also released was Victoriano’s co-accused, barangay watchman Flor. Seven other suspects in the killings remain at large.

The court’s release ordered incensed Cuaton, who has vowed to pursue the case in spite of the temporary setback.

Cuaton told The STAR yesterday he had no choice but to release the suspects. He, however, vowed to pursue all legal remedies. He questioned what he viewed were "irregularities" in the procedures leading to the court decision to free Victoriano. – Jerry Botial