ILOILO City – A murder case will be filed today, March 20, against two Philippine Army soldiers and a Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit member for the death of a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officer in Barangay Bolong Oeste, Santa Barbara, Iloilo.
Police Major Raymund Celoso, Santa Barbara police chief, said documents including the affidavits of witnesses and the complainants are all ready to be filed before the provincial prosecutor’s office.
To be charged with murder are Private First Class Bjourn Kirby Esposo, 26, of Barangay Malitbog Ilaya, Bingawan, Iloilo; Staff Sergeant Nilo Sorolla, 40, of Barangay Binangkilan, Santa Barbara; and Nilo Silao, 47, of Magsaysay Street, Calinog, Iloilo.
They were the suspects in the fatal shooting of Jail Senior Inspector Andrew Larupay, 51, of Barangay Caninguan, Lambunao, Iloilo on Thursday morning.
Celoso said the jail officer and the soldiers – assigned in the 12th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Libot, Calinog, Iloilo – had a traffic altercation in the neighboring town Cabatuan.
The suspects were onboard an Elf truck while the victim was in his white car. The men were all bound for Iloilo City.
Upon reaching Bolong Oeste, Larupay called out the soldiers to stop.
Wielding a gun, Larupay confronted the suspects, but was shot first. He was rushed to the nearby Western Visayas Sanitarium where he was declared him “dead on arrival.”
On the other hand, the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) acknowledged that individuals involved in the incident were from the 12th Infantry Battalion, one of the units stationed in Camp General Carreon in Calinog, Iloilo.
In press statement, spokesperson Major Cenon Pancito III said they would help in the investigation.
“As of now, we cannot speculate on what really had happened because of the different accounts from different witnesses,” Pancito said.
The 3ID will also provide legal assistance to their personnel, he added./PN
