Slay case witness may lose protection, security

Due to the preference of witness Alfred Mendiola to leave the safehouse, the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program has asked a Quezon City court to relieve it of responsibilities on his security.

In a two-page manifestation and motion, the WPSBP sought a court order noting that Mendiola, one of the accused in the Venson Evangelista slay case, is no longer under its physical and protective custody.

The pleading was signed by Atty. Martin Nuñez, acting program director of the WPSBP, an attached agency of the Department of Justice.

Status unchanged

Mendiola’s status as a provisional witness under the program remains unchanged.

However, Judge Luisa Padilla of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 215 has yet to formally drop him from the charge sheet and admit him as a state witness.

He is expected to testify against brothers Roger and Raymond Dominguez whom he identified as the alleged masterminds behind the abduction and killing of Evangelista, a car dealer, early this year.

Slipped away

On Tuesday, Mendiola allegedly slipped away from his bodyguards on Tuesday and, wishing not to stay at a safehouse, chose to stay at the Bulacan Provincial Jail where he was once detained.

In its motion, the WPSBP said Mendiola, despite having been placed under the program’s protective custody, refused to remain at a designated safehouse.

The WPSBP added that the accused-witness “persistently insisted that he be transferred to the custody of the Bulacan Provincial Jail” and that Mendiola waived his benefit for temporary shelter.