Suspect may be dropped from car trader slay case

MANILA, Philippines -    Government prosecutors want to drop charges against one of two men who implicated brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez in the killing of car dealer Venson Evangelista.

Because of a new motion to remove Ferdinand Parulan from the list of suspects, an arraignment scheduled yesterday for several of the accused, who will be charged with car theft with homicide, was deferred anew.

Donald Lee, officer-in-charge of the Quezon City prosecutors’ office, said they asked Judge Ma. Luisa Padilla of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 215 to remove Parulan from the charge sheet after their re-evaluation showed “there was no probable cause” to indict him. Parulan earlier filed a motion for reconsideration to appeal his indictment.

The abduction and killing of Evangelista supposedly happened on Jan. 13. Parulan was bailed out of jail on Jan. 14, allegedly by the Dominguezes. “We were convinced that it was physically impossible for him to have participated in the planning and execution of the crime,” Lee said.

Parulan and Alfred Mendiola had pointed to Roger and Raymond Dominguez as the alleged masterminds in the killing.

Mendiola was admitted to the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program on Feb. 7, according to his lawyer Willie Rivera. Mendiola had asked the court to be dropped from the charge sheet and be turned into state witness.

Rivera said since Mendiola only acted as a poseur buyer of Evangelista’s Toyota Land Cruiser, he had the least participation in the crime.

Also during yesterday’s hearing, Lee told the court he had formed a special panel of prosecutors to handle the case: Assistant City Prosecutors Jaime Villanueva, Irene Resurrecion, and Ramoncito Ocampo.

The court has also denied the motion earlier filed by Raymond Dominguez for him to be transferred from Camp Crame to Camp Olivas in Bulacan.