By RALPH JOHN MIJARES
ROXAS City — Homicide charges will be filed against four security guards of the Filamer Christian University (FCU) who allegedly mauled to death a 28-year-old electronics and communications engineering student.
Security guards Roger Borbon, 37, Brgy. Linampungan, Pontevedra, Capiz; Wilbert Opeñano, 41, of Pilar; Hubert Villaruz, 28, of Brgy. Duyok, Dao; and Henry Brillo, 47, of Brgy. Ondoy, Ivisan, all work for the Golden Eye security agency.
Supt. Julio Gustilo, police city director, said the police will file the charges but did not say when.
A wounded Toni Russel Casipe was found lying near a basketball court at FCU’s annex campus in Brgy. Punta Tabuc here on Sunday evening.
Responding members of the Capiz Emergency Response Team rushed him to the Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival.
Provincial scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) said Casipe’s head had hematoma while his legs were tied using a yellow nylon cord.
Police said Casipe was about to enter the campus at about 7:30 p.m. to go to the computer laboratory when Borbon prevented him.
Casipe went berserk and had a scuffle with Borbon. Borbon then fired three warning shots and called for help from the three other guards, police said.
All four guards were detained in the city police station. Panay News asked them what happened after the scuffle, but they refused to speak.
Casipe was a native of Bacolod City and was temporarily residing on Philippine Railway Street here near FCU.
According to Gustilo, Casipe had wounds in the head and body; the university’s guards may have hurt him.
An autopsy on Casipe’s body will be conducted either tomorrow or Friday, said Chief Insp. Arturo Bangcaye, provincial crime laboratory chief.
Bangcaye said the medico-legal officer, Chief Insp. Joe Martin Fuentes, will arrive in Capiz from Cagayan de Oro tonight.
SOCO recovered two empty shells from Borbon’s 9mm-caliber pistol and a pair of shoes. Borbon turned over his firearm to the police.
Engr. Ramy Lloyd Lotilla, Office of Student Affairs director of FCU, said students cannot enter the campus after school and office hours unless they have a permit.
Students are allowed to stay in the campus from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. during regular school days, Lotilla said, adding that they are doing their best to keep everyone in the university safe.
Rodel Ibañez, FCU chief security officer, said he spoke with the suspects on Monday. They denied hurting Casipe, he said. He said the guards were trained by their security agency to employ maximum tolerance.
There were no closed-circuit television cameras in the area at the time, FCU president Dr. Domingo Diel Jr. said, but the university had decided to install security cameras weeks before the incident.
Engr. Jomar Dador, dean of the College of Engineering, said Casipe was a decent student.
But Dador, who is also Casipe’s teacher, noticed that the victim had been absent for an entire week prior to the incident.
Diel said FCU will help the victim’s family. He also said the university conducted its own investigation and assured that there will be no cover-up./PN
