Police: Kua slay suspects not fall guys

MANILA, Philippines - Police yesterday debunked the claims of relatives of the four suspects in the killing of former Tourism official and STAR reporter Nixon Kua that they are mere “fall guys.”

Senior Superintendent Bernabe Balba, Region 4-A chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said it was not the police who positively identified the suspects but the family and relatives of Kua, who were with him during the robbery-slay.

Because of the strong testimonies of Kua’s wife Susan, daughter Sue Anne and son Daryl, Calamba City assistant prosecutor Angelina Orendain ordered the suspects arrested and detained without bail, Balba said.

Balba admitted that their investigation against the four suspects – Darwin Saminiano, 20; John Rey Cortez, 22; Noel Garcia, 23; and Michael Molino, 21 – is not yet over.

“We are still gathering additional evidence which we will present in court once the trial starts,” he said.

Saminiano, Cortez and Garcia were surrendered to the police by their barangay chairman, while Molino was brought in by his father, a few hours before Kua succumbed to a gunshot wound in the face at the Calamba Medical Center last July 23.

Kua’s family pointed to Saminiano as the gunman, Garcia as the one who shot Kua’s brother Allyxon, 46, and Cortez as having grabbed the handbag of Sue Ann that contained P90,000 for the payroll of landscaping workers in the family residence in Calamba. Molino acted as the group’s lookout.

The four suspects are now locked up at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology detention center in Laguna not only for the Kua case but also for the gang-rape of a 21-year-old classmate in 2009.