ILOILO City – One of the four policemen tagged in the killing of businessman Delfin Britanico denied his participation in the crime.
Police Staff Sergeant Michael Demigillo de Felipe of the La Paz Police Station said Police Corporal Joseph Andrew Joven who applied to be a state witness in the case was making stories up.
“Butigon gid na sya. Koging na sya (He’s a liar and a drug addict),” de Felipe said.
Joven was one of the initial two policemen that the National Bureau of Investigation charged with murder in theft in May last year for the death of Britanico in Jan. 19, 2020.
In a sworn statement attached to his application to be a state witness filed with the Office of the Prosecutor General in the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Ermita, Manila on Dec. 15, 2020, Joven named two policemen whom he said were in the Mitsubishi Adventure he was driving and was used in the crime – de Felipe and Police Staff Sergeant Freddie Hibalo Libo-on of the Dumangas, Iloilo police station.
“He destroyed my reputation,” said de Felipe yesterday.
Libo-on, on the other hand, could not be reached for comment as this was being written.
At the time of the crime, said de Felipe, he was in the hospital assisting his wife who was giving birth to their daughter.
“Gusto ko atubangon ni Joven ang paghigko nya sang ngalan ko. Atubangon nya ko kay gusto ko maklaruhan ang tanan,” said de Felipe who was accompanied by his legal counsel Hernando Galvez, former Iloilo City administrator.
He challenged Joven to show proof that he was in the crime scene.
Why would Joven destroy him?
According to de Felipe, he once chided Joven for using illegal drugs.
Joven was dismissed from the police service for refusing to take a drug test ordered by the Iloilo City Police Office a few years ago.
De Felipe said he did not know Britanico but he knew Police Staff Sergeant Libo-on.
Further in his sworn statement submitted to the DOJ, Joven pointed to colleagues Police Staff Sergeant Ricardo Cabrera Morante and Police Master Sergeant Vernie Lui Escorial as the ones who shot Delfin dead.
“Pangitaon ko gid ya ang hustisya,” said de Felipe.
Earlier this week, Western Visayas top cop Brigadier General Rolando Miranda relieved from their posts de Felipe, Libo-on, Escorial, and Morante.
While investigation for their administrative cases is ongoing, these cops will be reassigned to the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit./PN
