Police to file obstruction raps vs Ingeniero's drinking buddy

MANILA, Philippines – Police are set to file charges of obstruction of justice against one of the three drinking pals of Zosimo Baldomero-Ingeniero for hiding the victim’s firearms when he found the body on Friday morning.

Director Raul Bacalzo, chief of the National Task Force Usig, said Belcezar Relimbo, one of the drinking buddies and owner of the compound, will be charged for obstruction of justice for concealing the weapon upon his discovery of the body of Baldomero-Ingeniero.

“Forensic examinations on all slugs and shells recovered from the victim and scene of the crime were concluded to have come from the homemade Ingram 9-mm pistol owned by the victim,” Bacalzo said.

The Task Force Usig chief said all forensic examinations on the victim, and the testimonies of his companions and other testimonies indicated that the death of Baldomero-Ingeniero was accidental and self-inflicted.

Based on forensic examination, Bacalzo said Baldomero-Ingeniero, cousin of slain activist Fernando Baldomero, suffered a wound in the chin from a bullet fired from his own 9-mm machine pistol.

His death in Malinao, Aklan on July 16, was initially suspected to be related to the July 5 ambush of his cousin Fernando, the first militant slain under the Aquino administration.

Bacalzo said paraffin tests also showed that Zosimo was positive for gunpowder nitrate, while his three drinking buddies tested negative.

“It (death of Baldomero-Ingeniero) was not in any manner related to the murder of his cousin Fernando Baldomero,” said Bacalzo.

He said they are still waiting for the result of the polygraph exams conducted on the companions which is expected to be submitted by experts, although the document is not essential for the filing of charges but will form part of the evidence.

According to Senior Superintendent Christopher Laxa, deputy Director for Operations, CIDG, their investigation shows that Zosimo accidentally shot himself with his own 9-mm Ingram machine pistol while urinating against a coconut tree.

Laxa said that based on a trajectory analysis by an expert from the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame, Zosimo was hit by a bullet from the Ingram as the gun accidentally discharged and recoiled.

Laxa said they recovered one slug from Zosimo’s head and two more slugs at the coconut tree.