MikeLigalig.com

By ROGER BALAMAD
Sunday Post

The wife of the victim, a gun-for-hire and the contact man were indicted for murder involving the owner of the Via-Bohol Hotel in an information filed by the Philippine National Police Bohol Command Wednesday at the City Prosecutor’s Office.

Handling the inquest investigation is Asst. City Prosecutor Alberto Rara.

Named respondents in a murder case filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the PNP Camp Dagohoy were Aurelia Taray y Lusica alias Au-au of Basak Taloto, this city; Arnaldo Sarto alias Bogs of Achila, Ubay town, the alleged gunman; and Renato Sabalande alias Rene of Poblacion, Dagohoy town, reportedly the contact man for the slay job.

The three were accused in the murder of Victorino Taray, 49, owner of Via-Bohol, a hotel located along Graham Avenue, this city. He was killed in the early morning of March 12, 2009 after attending mass at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Ubujan district, this city. A lone gunman carried out the killing allegedly on orders of the wife tagging her as the mastermind of the attack.   

The Post tried yesterday to get the side of the wife regarding her alleged involvement in the crime but was told by her secretary that she would get in touch with the newspaper publisher. The paper waited until deadline last night but no call from the victim’s wife came.

3 AFFIDAVITS

As the criminal complaint was filed Wednesday, all three accused were still at large.

The CIDG has supported at least 11 affidavits to buttress its case against the three suspects including the statements of the policemen investigating the incident.

However, only three affidavits mentioned the alleged participation of the lady Taray.

They were the affidavits of Elmer Reyes y Copillas of barangay San Pascual, Ubay town. In his statement, he said he was in the company of Constancio Olarita alias Tikyano, Sarto and Jose Ronel Patricio, Jr. at a gathering in San Miguel, Dagohoy, Bohol on October 18, 2008.

In that affair, Reyes said, he was informed by Tikyano that a certain Rene Sabalande who is a friend of the former was “looking for a person fit for the job he was offering".

The witness narrated that in the afternoon of the same day, all of them accompanied by a certain Junior Camaego went to an eatery in barangay Mahayag, San Miguel town. A few minutes later, Sabalande arrived with a certain Galo Nobung, a cousin of Rene’s wife.

While at the eatery and after the usual introduction of the names of Reyes’ friends, Sabalande offered them alcoholic drinks.

Then Sabalandre showed them three colored pictures, to which one of them was later identified as the owner of Via-Bohol Hotel.

In showing the picture who turned out to be the target of the liquidation (Taray), Sabalande said that the man in the picture was maintaining an illicit love affair with another woman and that a big amount of reward money would be given to whoever would kill him.

Further conversation of the group showed that Sabalande then suggested that one of them would accompany him to Tagbilaran City to conduct what he called as “mapping” which meant familiarizing the place and the victim. Subsequent reports indicated that it was Sarto alias Bogs who conducted the mapping while Sabalande provided the firearm to be used in the murder. A witness in the crime scene provided the description of Bogs as the alleged gunman in that fateful morning of March 12, 2009.

The same witness implicated the wife in the murder plan hatched sometime in the last week of October.

According to the Reyes affidavit, the wife of the victim was mentioned when Tikyano received a cell phone call from Rene that they cannot meet in a place they chose as their rendezvous because the driver of the wife of the supposed victim did not report for work on that given day.

According to Reyes, had Sabalande and the wife showed up as arranged, he would report the murder plan to the police. He said he would report the plan to the police after he shall have received the partial payment of the reward money.

In the same affidavit, Reyes narrated that it was only on August 2, 2009 that he learned that the murder plot was a success.

Asked by the CIDG investigator what was the motive of the killing, the witness said on the basis of the information provided by Sabalande at the Camargo  eatery in San Miguel, he was killed on orders of the wife because he was maintaining an illicit affair with another woman.

Another witness identified as Jose Ronel Patricio, Jr. of Achila, Ubay said that he was with the group that met at a Mahayag eatery. He also heard what Sabalande told the group. The witness also confirmed that he saw the picture of the liquidation target who turned out to be the male Taray.

The other witness whose statements collaborated that of the two others (Reyes and Patricio, Jr.) was identified as Constancio Olarita y Tinampay alias Tikyano of barangay San Miguel, Dagohoy.

This witness provided additional investigation to CIDG agents that Sabalande told him about other circumstances of the victim’s wife.

He said that Taray’s wife is a sister of Abi Lusica, the incumbent barangay captain of Bagumbayan, Pilar town.

The same witness also said that it was Sabalande who said that it was Taray’s wife who provided the picture and the contract price of P150,000 if Mr. Taray would be executed before or after Christmas day of 2008.     

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