Aide cleared in Nida Blanca murder case

Actress Nida Blanca’s long time aide was cleared yesterday by the Department of Justice of any involvement in her murder seven years ago.

After reviewing the case, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez found no basis for the finding of probable cause to charge Elena de la Paz in court.

“The claim of innocence of De la Paz is enough to convince this office to dismiss the case filed against her, considering that the alleged incriminating fact, as shown by Ranny Francisco’s sworn statement that he allegedly saw respondent-appellant (De la Paz) in the company of Nida Blanca before she was found dead the next morning is just tenuous, so much so, that there is no positive evidence to conclude that there is probable cause to Elena de la Paz for trial,” read the decision.

“Finally, while it may be true that respondent-appellant Elena de la Paz’s claim of innocence is based on an alibi, the same should not be brushed aside, considering that the finding of probable cause against her is inherently perforated with flaws.”

Gonzalez ordered the prosecutor on case to delete the name of De la Paz from the charge sheet to be filed in court.

Gonzalez also ordered Ranny Francisco, the self-proclaimed tabloid reporter who had implicated De la Paz in Blanca’s murder, discharged from the government’s witness protection program.

On Nov. 25, 2006, prosecutors of the Department of Justice found probable cause to indict De la Paz as an accomplice in the murder of Blanca.

De la Paz was implicated in the case after Francisco, the state witness in the case, claimed, in a sworn statement that he saw Blanca (Dorothy Jones in real life) with De la Paz and two other men at about 7 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2001 at the sixth floor parking area of the Atlanta Center in Greenhills, where the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) holds office.

Francisco said he was ordered by his entertainment editor to go to the MTRCB office to have still pictures of a movie approved before the tabloid publishes them.

Upon reaching the Atlanta Center, he took the elevator for the 32nd floor, where the MTRCB office was located, but that he got out at the sixth floor, where he saw De la Paz ascending from the stairs, wearing a pair of jeans and with a sweater wrapped around her neck. He later saw De la Paz, Blanca and two men talking between two parked cars at the parking lot, Francisco said.

Francisco said he recognized De la Paz later after seeing her on television a few days after Blanca’s death on Nov. 7, 2001.

In her counter-affidavit, De la Paz belied Francisco’s allegations that she was with Blanca at the Atlanta Center on the night of Nov. 6, 2001. She was at Blanca’s house in White Plains, Quezon City at that time, she added.

Two years ago the DOJ denied De la Paz’s petition to be removed from the list of respondents. – Mike Frialde