LTO employee appeals DOJ ruling in lawyer’s ambush

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Claiming new evidence that would exonerate him, an employee of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) here has appealed for a review of the frustrated murder case which the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended to be filed against him in connection with last year’s ambush of a Nueva Vizcaya lawyer.

Elmer Domingo, a member of the LTO’s Flying Squad, was tagged by lawyer Virgil Castro as the one riding tandem with a motorcycle-riding man who fired at least four gunshots at him while he was on his way home to Solano, Nueva Vizcaya on July 18 last year.

Domingo claimed that he was in another place when the attack on Castro happened.

Meanwhile, police are set to file multiple murder charges against at least four suspects for the deaths of three of Castro’s four security aides in an ambush last week.

Castro, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ local chapter, survived the attack with a superficial gunshot wound in the back.

Castro, along with his four security aides, was on his way to a court hearing in Villaverde town when he was waylaid.

Senior Superintendent Jesus Manubay, provincial police director, said two John Does will be included in the charge sheet.

"We have a number of witnesses who positively identified four of the six gunmen who ambushed Atty. Castro. They (witnesses) are now in our protective custody," Manubay said.

Based on Castro’s account of last year’s ambush, assistant regional state prosecutor Ferdinand Dalpig recommended the filing of frustrated murder charges against Domingo and his still unidentified cohort.

Dalpig said there was "sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that the crime of frustrated murder has been committed."

In his July 17 resolution, Dalpig, however, cleared LTO regional director Moises Almuete, who was earlier tagged as the alleged mastermind of Castro’s ambush, due to insufficient evidence.

Lawyer Pedro Perez, Domingo’s legal counsel, has appealed Dalpig’s resolution with new pieces of evidence, including the affidavits of Santiago City councilor Manolito Dulay and four city employees who attested that they were with Dalpig at the time Castro was ambushed.

Dulay and city employees Julio Santiago, Rafael Cauinian, Dionisio Quibuyen and Rogelio Del Rosario all claimed that Domingo was with them issuing traffic violation tickets to motorists in relation to the incoming fiesta celebration in Santiago City then.

"I hope that with these new documents, my name will be cleared of any wrongdoing. I want to reiterate that I (was not) and will never be a party to such a crime," Domingo said.

"I am a loyal government employee but I will never allow myself to be used (for such a crime)," he added.