Witness in Delgado slay ‘should also be a suspect’

A key witness in the murder of businessman Federico Delgado in Manila last year should be included among the suspects, defense lawyers said yesterday.

Emerging from the oral arguments held at the Court of Appeals, lawyer Estelito Mendoza, who represents suspect Luisito Gonzalez, said that key witness Annalisa Pesico should be investigated as a suspect in the March 10, 2007 murder of her 51-year-old boyfriend, a son of shipping magnate Francisco Delgado.

It was Pesico who identified Gonzalez and his driver, Antonio Buenaflor, as the ones who attacked her and Delgado at Delgado’s Manila apartment.

“She should have been a suspect also because she’s the only one who has admitted that she was with the deceased when he was killed. No other person has made that admission. She is the only one who says there were two other persons. There was no proof that there were two other persons,” Mendoza said.

He also lashed out at the Manila police for not observing basic procedures in securing the crime scene. He said that it is the responsibility of the police to look for objective evidence “that is beyond fabrication,” and proven in a preliminary investigation.

Gonzalez, in handcuffs and wearing a bullet-proof vest, was present in yesterday’s hearing. He surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation last Wednesday afternoon after the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) issued a warrant for his arrest.

During the hearing, CA Associate Justices Rosalinda Vicente, Fernanda Lampas-Peralta and Teresita Flores grilled lawyer Gabriel Enriquez, who represents the Delgado family, on why the complainants did not bother to interrogate the security guard manning the Mayflower building, where the victim’s apartment was located.

The justices said the security guard may have been able to provide some information that could help identify the suspects.

Enriquez added that it was not his job to investigate the security guard as he was concentrating on the legal aspect of the case.

After yesterday’s hearing, the appellate court said that the case will be deemed submitted for resolution if none of the parties would submit any more manifestations.

The oral argument was conducted after Gonzalez’s lawyers questioned before the Court of Appeals an order by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file murder charges against Gonzalez and Buenaflor before the Manila RTC.

Although the Manila prosecutors’ office had dismissed the original complaint against Gonzalez, the family of Delgado successfully filed a petition for review with the DOJ. Then acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera reversed the prosecutor’s decision and ordered that the murder case be pursued. The oral argument at the CA has suspended the proceedings at the Manila RTC.

Gonzalez, now detained at the NBI, claimed that since he was confined and fully sedated at the Makati Medical Center from March 7 to 18, he could not have been at the scene of the crime.

However, the DOJ junked his defense, saying he did not present anyone from the hospital to corroborate his story.