Suspect cleared of car dealer slay; arraignment of others deferred

MANILA, Philippines—A suspect in the Venson Evangelista murder may be spared formal criminal charges in court after the Quezon City Prosecutors’ Office reversed an earlier ruling and declared it had found no probable cause for indicting him.

As a result, a Quezon City court deferred anew Tuesday’s scheduled arraignment of the brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez who allegedly masterminded Evangelista’s abduction and killing in January.

Judge Ma. Luisa Q. Padilla of the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 215 postponed the arraignment of all the accused after the prosecution asked the court to remove Ferdinand Parulan from the list of the accused.

The next hearing is scheduled for April 11 although it was not clear if the arraignment of Raymond and Roger Dominguez et al will push through on that day.

In an interview with reporters, Donald Lee, officer-in-charge of the Quezon City Prosecutors’ Office, said they found no probable cause to charge Parulan after a review of the case.

The prosecution has filed a motion to amend the amended information filed in court, asking for Parulan’s exclusion from the charge sheet.

The Dominguez brothers along with several other suspects are facing charges of car theft with homicide for Evangelista’s murder.

The car dealer’s charred body was found in Cabanatuan City while the Toyota Land Cruiser he was selling was found on the parking lot of a Mandaluyong City hotel with a different license plate.

Lee noted that, based on the records, it was “physically impossible” for Parulan to have participated in the planning and execution of Evangelista’s murder on January 13.

The city prosecutor said Parulan was only bailed out of jail on January 14, a day after Evangelista was abducted in Quezon City.

The Quezon City prosecutors’ office reviewed its earlier resolution indicting Parulan and Alfred Mendiola after the two filed a motion for reconsideration.

The prosecution is also asking the court to discharge Mendiola as an accused as he is being eyed as a state witness against the Dominguez brothers and the other accused.

“With Parulan having been dropped as accused, we can also utilize him as a prosecution witness,” Lee told reporters.

The court has yet to resolve the motion to discharge Mendiola as accused and the motion to exclude Parulan from the list of accused.

Parulan’s lawyer, Willie Rivera, said his client only had knowledge of the murder “after the fact,” or after it was committed.

Judge Padilla, however, withheld action on Raymond Dominguez’s motion to be transferred from his detention cell in Camp Crame to a detention cell in Camp Olivas.

The judge said all orders for commitment of the accused will be issued after the court has ruled on all pending motions.

“We also have to consider the security and safety of the personalities involved.… They will remain in their present detention cells,” Padilla said.

The Dominguez brothers, along with accused Jason Miranda are in Camp Crame, while Parulan and Mendiola are detained in Camp Olivas.

Of all the accused, only Mendiola was not present in court on Tuesday as he was reported ill. Starlet Katrina Paula, who is also facing charges in the same case before the Quezon City prosecutors’ office, was also present.

Meanwhile, Lee said he has formed a panel to oversee and share the workload in the prosecution of the case against the Dominguez group.

The panel members are: assistant prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo, the trial prosecutor assigned to Branch 215, and assistant prosecutors Irene Resurrecion and Jaime Villanueva, who handled the cases at the Quezon City prosecutors’ office.