3 suspects in gruesome slay of couple, agent convicted

A Quezon City court on Thursday found three men guilty in the gruesome killing in 2010 of a Chinese couple and their agent whose dismembered bodies, except for a severed forearm, have yet to be found up to now.

In a 51-page decision, Judge Marilou Runes-Tamang of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 97 found principal suspect Jaylord Dimal guilty of three counts of murder. Each one carried a penalty of reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years in prison, and P100,000 in damages to the victims’ heirs.

His cohorts, Allan Castillo and Robert Bacay, were each sentenced to up to 24 years in prison after they were convicted of being accessories to the crime. They were also ordered to pay P10,000 to the families of each victim.

P1-M debt

The nearly decade-long case stemmed from the abduction and killing of Lucio and Rosemarie Pua and Gemma Eugenio in Echague, Isabela province, on Sept. 6, 2010. The victims, who were in the rice business, had driven then to Dimal’s compound to collect a P1-million payment for palay.

In addition to the damages, the judge ordered Dimal to pay the couple’s family the money he owed for the palay which totaled P1,207,194.

As the guilty verdict in the judge’s decision was read to a packed courtroom, Eugenio’s oldest daughter, Stacy, burst into tears, later telling the Inquirer that it wasn’t the decision she expected.

“We’ve waited so long for something we weren’t even sure could happen,” she said. “It seemed like just a wish.”

Stacy, who was only in her early 20s when her mother was murdered, added that she was forced to take on the role of both caretaker and breadwinner for her three younger siblings. “I became their mother,” she said.

According to Eduardo Sapipi, who was a state witness in the case, Eugenio and the Puas were killed the same night they drove to the home of Dimal who refused to pay his debt.

“The bodies of the victims were chopped into several pieces, their decapitated heads burned and thrown in different places in Isabela and Quirino,” said the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), which had been assisting the victims’ families.

Up to now, authorities have yet to find any of the victims’ body parts save for Eugenio’s severed forearm.

Raid yields evidence

The case against Dimal was bolstered, however, after a raid on his compound yielded several alleged belongings of the victims, including a bank passbook, two Bureau of Immigration-issued alien certificates of registration, a gold earring, a shoulder bag and scraps of clothing.

Police also recovered seven bullet casings from a .22-caliber firearm during the raid.

The case, originally handled by the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Isabela, was ordered transferred to Quezon City by the Supreme Court after a panel of prosecutors from the Department of Justice took over.

Teresita Ang See, MRPO founder, said that while Dimal masterminded the killing, Castillo helped chopped up the victims’ bodies. Bacay, on the other hand, took part in disposing of the bodies.

“Seeking justice for this depraved act is not easy as we had to endure the long trial which saw venues change and prosecutors switch,” said MRPO chair Ka Kuen Chua.

He added, however, that “justice is alive in this country.”