Negros exec opposes 2 rob suspects' transfer

The vice mayor of a town in Negros Occidental yesterday expressed opposition to a plea by the camp of two robbery suspects arrested in Quezon City for a transfer to a detention facility in the province.

In an interview with The STAR, Escalante town Vice Mayor Santiago Barcelona Jr. also asked why Rep. Jules Ledesma even sent his lawyer to “check on the condition” of suspects Edgar Mellama and Kenny Relos.

“What is the importance of this guy (Mellama)? I’m just wondering aloud,” Barcelona said, reacting to a story that came out in The STAR on Ledesma’s move to send his legal consultant, Danny Pondevilla, to seek the transfer of the suspects from the detention facility in Camp Karingal to a jail in San Carlos, Negros Occidental.

Pondevilla, saying the suspects are constituents of Ledesma, went to meet with Quezon City Police District director-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit chief Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag last Thursday about their move to seek the transfer of detention.

Mabanag quoted Pondevilla as saying the transfer would expedite their move for the lifting of another warrant of arrest issued against the two suspects by a Negros Occidental court.

Mellama has a pending arrest warrant issued by a Negros Occidental court for allegedly murdering Romeo Agaton, a supporter of Barcelona, last year. He also has a pending arrest warrant for illegal possession of firearms and theft.

“It would be better if he is detained there (Quezon City),” Barcelona said over the phone from Negros Occidental, citing that prior to the suspects’ arrest in Quezon City, Mellama was just “roaming around” the province and was never arrested despite the release of an arrest warrant last year.

Mellama and Relos, both natives of Escalante, Negros Occidental, were arrested last Nov. 5 during a stakeout near a house in Dupax Compound, Barangay Bagbag in Novaliches after the police received information that the residence was being used by a robbery group.

Mabanag also told The STAR yesterday that they were poised to file robbery charges against the two suspects after they were linked to a burglary at the Balintawak branch of construction supply shop Wilcon Builders last October.

At the moment, only illegal possession of firearms had been filed against the two, for which both have posted bail.

As for Relos, he has arrest warrants for cases of robbery and car theft also issued by a court in Negros Occidental.

Regarding Mellama’s murder charge, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a resolution last July 30 reversing an earlier resolution of a government prosecutor in Negros Occidental.

According to Pondevilla, the DOJ’s decision was because the “statement of the wife of the victim (pointing to Mellama) was not credible.”

But Agaton’s widow, Evangeline, said the DOJ’s decision has yet to be settled as they filed a motion for the department to reconsider its resolution.