Police set to arrest Delgado slay suspect

A Manila police official said yesterday they have enough grounds to arrest Luisito Gonzalez, the prime suspect in the killing of Federico Delgado, one of the scions of a prominent Manila clan.

"Flight is an admission of guilt," said Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr., who heads the Manila Police District’s homicide section.

He said Gonzalez’s escape from confinement at the Makati Medical Center last Monday, where he was reportedly undergoing "detoxification," boosted the theory that he was involved in Delgado’s killing.

Gonzalez’s family released yesterday an official statement in which he "vehemently and categorically denied any involvement in the killing."

Gonzalez was identified by a witness as one of two men who fatally stabbed Delgado last March 10 at the fourth floor of the family-owned Mayflower building in Malate. The suspects took away cash, jewelry and valuables from Delgado’s safety vault.

The witness, Annalisa Peseco, 20, was with Delgado at the time he was slain and was also wounded by the suspects. She survived the attack and is now under protective custody.

Peseco claimed she managed to get a good look at Gonzalez when he removed his bonnet as he opened the vault.

Police are also looking into the possible involvement of Gonzalez’s driver-bodyguard, Antonio Buenaflor, 50, in Delgado’s killing. He was earlier dismissed from Citadel Corp., one of the Delgados’ several companies.

Buenaflor reportedly accompanied Gonzalez on his escape from the hospital, and investigators said he could have been Gonzalez’s companion when he allegedly committed the crime.

Yanquiling said Peseco could identify the other suspect "since she has vividly recalled the voice of one of their attackers."

Gonzalez, who is one of the children of Vicky Quirino Gonzalez from a previous marriage, was reportedly close to the victim’s father, 91-year-old Don Francisco Delgado.

The elder Delgado married Gonzalez’s mother when his first wife, with whom he has six children, died. People close to the family say that the Delgado patriarch treated Gonzalez’s children like his own.

Investigators are focusing on a fight over the division of money and property among the heirs of the elder Delgado, who has vast interests in shipping, manning services, brokerage, cargo handling, telecommunications and real estate.

Yanquiling said investigators received information that could pinpoint the mastermind of the killing.

"Our sources told us that Luisito’s elder sister, Ruby, has manipulated the lives of her siblings due to her higher intellectual capacity. It is she who calls the shots as far as the family affairs are concerned. Maybe she could shed some light on our investigation," he said.