Former lawman links ex-PNP official to slay try

MANILA, Philippines - A former policeman accused of trying to kill businesswoman Cristina Decena last year has identified a former Philippine National Police official as among those behind the plot to kill her.

Decena said she accompanied Police Officer 1 Henry Quiñones Monday night to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where he executed a sworn affidavit accusing Manuel Dasig, a former police major, and his wife, Imelda, of ordering the businesswoman killed.

Quiñones earlier denied being involved in the August 2013 ambush.

Decena had filed falsification and estafa charges against the Dasigs, who were her clients at the Philippine Asian Decena Realty & Development Corp.

When asked what prompted Quiñones to retract his statement, Decena said the former policeman claimed that the alleged masterminds want him dead. “He does not know where to go so he sought help so he asked the NBI’s help and he told everything,” she said.

Decena said she told Quiñones she would forgive him so long as he tells the truth. She added that Quiñones wanted to be placed under the government’s witness protection program.

Decena was with her son Danilo and their maid when Quinones and another policeman shot their vehicle in Banawe, Quezon City.

Days later, Quiñones was arrested by the Manila Police District in a cheap motel along Roxas Boulevard. His alleged accomplice, PO1 Melvin Waga, an active member of the Pasig City police, remains at large.

The Dasigs’ lawyer, Rudolf Philip Jurado, earlier denied the accusations that his clients masterminded the slay try.