Ombudsman junks slay raps vsEcija mayor, village chief

By Manny Galvez          

                                           

GAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the complaints for murder and grave misconduct against the mayor and a barangay chairman of this city in connection with the killing of four persons, including a policeman in 2013.

Mayor Maricel Natividad-Nagaño and Sta. Cruz village chief Montaño Barlis were cleared of the charges, according to a 13-page joint resolution issued by assistant special prosecutor Maria Janina Hidalgo approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Aug. 28 and released on Tuesday.

The charges stemmed from the ambush on Barangay Pambuan chairman Emerson Pascual at Sizzlers Haus restaurant in Barangay San Lorenzo on Aug. 13, 2013.

Pascual’s security escort Police Officer 2 Jefferson Lim, his driver Rufino Vendivel, and civilians Consuelo Manse and King Jasper Juvinal were also killed.

Records of the case showed that the gunmen alighted from a sport utility vehicle owned by Maricel.

Maricel denied involvement in the attack, adding that her vehicle was parked in their residential compound on the day of the killings.

Barlis also denied involvement in the crime, saying he was at the city hall during the ambush.

“The reason for the attack and its target had not been determined with certainty and arose only from Pascual’s own suggestion, not from investigative work,” the ombudsman ruling stated.

There is no evidence that either Maricel or Barlis participated in the incident, it said. “Neither could they be said to have acted in conspiracy with the unidentified gunmen since their concurrence or participation in the common felonious objective was not demonstrated,” it added.

The ombudsman said cases must be resolved on the basis of law and evidence and not speculations or emotions.