ILOILO City – Two more policemen under the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) were tagged in the killing of a son of former congressman Salvador “Buddy” Britanico a year ago on the Iloilo River Boulevard, Barangay Nabitasan, La Paz district here. But were they also behind the killing of a suspected drug personality?
Police Corporal Joseph Andrew Joven who was earlier identified by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as the driver of the Mitsubishi Adventure used in the killing of businessman Delfin Britanico pointed to colleagues Police Staff Sergeant Ricardo Cabrera Morante and Police Master Sergeant Vernie Lui Escorial as the ones who shot Delfin dead on Jan. 19, 2020.
Joven tagged his fellow policemen 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 also named two more policemen whom he said were also in the Mitsubishi Adventure he was driving – Police Staff Sergeant Michael Demegillo de Felipe and Police Staff Sergeant Freddie Hibalo Libo-on.
Former Congressman Britanico welcomed this development.
“Justice is rolling,” he said, recalling that Delfin was shot dead after conducting wife Katrina home after a Sunday church service and then taking a random Sunday noon drive on his motorcycle in Barangay Nabitasan.
He filed a Supplemental Complaint to include Morante and Escorial in the murder and theft charges that the NBI, he and Katrina filed in May last year against Joven and Police Corporal Jerry Villanueva who was assigned at the Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
“The testimony of Joven has the badge of truth because it is an admission against his interest,” according to Britanico.
Also a lawyer, the former legislator stressed that in so far as the Britanico family was concerned, “What we are just interested is sin-o ang nagtiro kag nagpatay sa bata ko…muna lang ang gusto namon i-prosecute in accordance with law.”
In his sworn statement, Joven stated that Morante was the first to shoot Delfin, with Escorial doing the finishing shot.
‘FLOATING STATUS’
Morante and Escorial could not be reached for comment as this was being written.
But according to Police Major Marlyn Roquero, ICPO spokesperson, both policemen were placed on “floating status” right after their names were linked to the case.
City police director Police Colonel Eric Dampal reassigned them to the ICPO Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit, said Roquero.
Roquero also confirmed that Morante and Escorial were previously assigned with the ICPO Drug Enforcement Unit.
“The crime committed was murder (qualified by treachery, abuse of superior strength and cruelty) because Delfin was still on board his parked motorcycle, unarmed and outnumbered when he was shot,” according to Britanico.
He added: “After killing Delfin, they took the victim’s cellphone. Visibly, by their concerted acts, there was a conspiracy between Morante and Escorial to commit the crime of murder and theft.”
SUCCESSIVE KILLINGS
After four months of probe, the NBI initially charged last May 29, 2020 Joven and Villanueva before the DOJ. The complaint was not only on the killing of Delfin but also of a call center agent.
The Jan. 19, 2020 successive killings – just minutes apart – of 36-year-old Delfin and 42-year-old call center agent and drug surrenderer Alain Muller of Jaro district were initially thought as separate incidents. NBI, however, discovered they were related by circumstance.
The first shooting (Muller) took place in Barangay Cuartero, Jaro a little past noon while the one in La Paz (Delfin) happened at around 12:30 p.m.
Muller was peppered with bullets outside his house by two masked men at around 12:05 p.m.
Muller was attacked just minutes after emerging from his house. He was brought to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district where he died.
A week before Muelle’s shooting, policemen visited his house and tried to coax him into undergoing drug rehabilitation but he refused citing his tight work schedule.
In the case of Delfin, the Britanico family initially suspected that this was a business-related killing. It was also initially speculated that the shooting was a result of a traffic altercation.
Delfin was taken to the Medicus Medical Center in Mandurriao district where he was declared dead.
Former congressman Britanico sought the help of President Rodrigo Duterte who, in turn, ordered the NBI to conduct a thorough investigation.
FINDINGS
According to NBI officer-in-charge Eric Distor, the same vehicle – a Mitsubishi Adventure with plate number ABQ7754 – was seen in both killings, and that witnesses further saw one of the suspects taking something from Britanico.
The NBI traced the vehicle to the PAPO Car Rental and determined that it was Joven who rented it for two days or until Jan. 20, 2020.
According to Distor, the car rental owner told the NBI that Joven confessed to him that “the Adventure was used by his group as getaway vehicle in killing Muller and Britanico.”
“Joven admitted (to the car rental owner) he was the driver of the group. Further, (he) said that after killing Muller, they stopped at a vacant lot in (Barangay) Nabitasan, La Paz to strip off the white stickers from the Adventure. Britanico saw and confronted them so they shot Britanico to death,” read part of the NBI statement announcing its findings and the eventual filing of charges.
Britanico spotted the men while on his way home to Prime Estate Subdivision in Barangay Nabitasan.
According to the NBI, Britanico’s wife described her husband as having a “temper for traffic violators and does not hesitate to take photographs or videos of such and post them on social media.”
Taking this into consideration, according to the investigators, the suspects may have assumed that Britanico reported their activities to the authorities when he made a call or took photos or videos of them./PN
