Raps filed over slay try on Bacolod lawyer
Credit to Author: EUGENE Y. ADIONG| Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:54:13 +0000
BACOLOD CITY: The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Western Visayas regional office has filed murder and frustrated murder charges against 11 suspects for conniving to kill lawyer Erfe del Castillo in an ambush on Dec. 21, 2018.
Del Castillo and her boyfriend Efren Palmares, a former police officer, were on their way to Bacolod City from the Bacolod-Silay Airport on board a Porsche car when armed men in a sports utility vehicle peppered them with bullets around 10:45 p.m. on the access road in Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay City.
Palmares died, while del Castillo was injured.
Among those accused in the complaints that NBI Region 6 Director Max Salvador filed on Monday before the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office were three police officials, two non-commissioned police officers, a businesswoman, a lawyer, two civilians, a media practitioner and two unidentified persons.
In a news conference on Tuesday, del Castillo identified the suspects/ respondents in the case as Catherine Berioso-Cabuga alias Kate Brios, her mother Shirley Berioso and sister Caselyn Berioso with their lawyer Jose Max Ortiz.
Also named respondents were Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo, former acting police director of the Bacolod City Police Office, and Supt. Richie Yatar, Senior Insp. James Adrian Albaytar, Senior Police Officer 2 Joshua Barile and PO3 Ronald Ortiz.
Another respondent, named in the charge sheet filed on February 4 and docketed as Case VI-21-INV-019B-008-009, is a member of the media, whose name is being withheld by The Manila Times and several other John Does and Jane Does.
Aside from del Castillo, Palmares’ mother Rosalia Palmares is also a complainant.
The lawyer said all the suspects connived to have her killed, naming Berios-Cabuga as the mastermind.
“I am a thorn on her neck,” del Castillo said, adding that the atttempt on her life stems from the conflict over pieces of property of the Cabuga couple, particularly Metro Inn Hotel in Bacolod City.
In October last year, a stand-off between opposing supporters of the couple forced the police to close the road fronting the hotel.
Del Castillo is the legal counsel of Berioso-Cabuga’s estranged husband, Francis.
“The motive behind the attempt on my life was self-interest, greed and money,” she said.
“My mind was still alert at the time of the incident along the Circumferential Road up to the time of my operation. I saw who shot me, who they reported to after the incident and who were the individuals in the area. That area in Talisay City was well lighted so I remembered all of them,” Del Castillo added.
Berios- Cabuga, who manages the hotel and an actress, and the other respondents have not issued a statement as of press time.
Ortiz, in an interview with Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod, denied any hand in the ambush, saying the case has no basis and that at the time of the incident he was having a drink with a male friend in Bacolod City.
Del Castillo said surviving the ambush was a “miracle because He (God) let me live for a purpose.”
“The target was me as all the shots were aimed at the passenger side were I was seated,” she added.
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