BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) is trying to play down the dismissal of the murder case it filed against a suspect in the assassination of Panay Trade Fair Center director Romeo Capalla.
Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, provincial police director, refused to view the legal setback as a failure in police work.
“We did our part,” he said.
Salinas vowed to continue working on the case.
The decision of Provincial Prosecutor Bernabe Dusaban may be appealed, he said, or the case may be re-filed.
Salinas appealed for public help. Witnesses should come out and give information on the case, he said.
The police have more evidences and testimonies and these may be used to re-file the complaint, he also said.
Dusaban cited insufficiency of evidence in dismissing the case against suspect Julie Cabino alias Jojo Cabarles or Jojo Cabino.
The police’s principal witness, Honorio Sandoval – a market watchman of the Oton public market – thrice failed to recognize Cabino at the lobby of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office during the preliminary investigation.
For Dusaban, this failure weakened the case against Cabino.
Sandoval previously identified Cabino from the police’s rouge gallery during the police’s investigation of the case.
Salinas offered an explanation.
“Kon ikaw man, paatubangon sa imo suspek, matudlo ka? Will you do it? Sa tulok pa lang, mapatay ka na,” said Salinas.
The investigation of the case is not over, he insisted.
Armed men shot Capalla outside Oton’s market on March 15 this year.
Witnesses said two gunmen with three “back-ups” hurriedly fled on two motorcycles toward Tigbauan, Iloilo after the shooting.
Cabino was identified as one of the back-ups./PN
