Lawyer Lozano objects to downgrading of charge in son’s killing

Oliver Lozano. Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines – Lawyer Oliver Lozano is objecting to the filing of downgraded criminal charges in a Pampanga court against the Dominguez brothers in connection with the abduction and killing of his son in 2010 and is seeking a transfer of the trial.

The lawyer said he was appealing for the transfer of the case from Pampanga, which he said was the bailiwick of the accused, to Quezon City where the crime took place.

The elder Lozano said his son, Emerson, was kidnapped in Quezon City along with his driver, Ernani Sensil, in their Kia Carnival in January 2011.

But the Department of Justice downgraded the charges from the original murder complaint to car theft with homicide, a move which the father initially protested and appealed against but was denied.

“We have asked the Pampanga court to order the transfer of the venue for the hearings to Quezon City, but we were told that the San Fernando judge endorsed it to the Supreme Court,” the lawyer said.

Lozano said Central Luzon which includes Pampanga is the stronghold of Roger and Raymond Dominguez, alleged leaders of a notorious carjacking syndicate, who are accused of killing the younger Lozano and Sensil. Also charged with them were Jayson Miranda and Rolando Talban.

They are the same people being tried for the death of car dealer Venson Evangelista, whose abductions came just days after Lozano’s.

But unlike the Lozano case, the case of car theft with homicide in the Evangelista killing is being tried by a Quezon City judge.

Lozano’s original complaint with the DOJ was based on the testimony of state witness Alfred Mendiola, who also pointed to the Dominguezes as the alleged masterminds in Emerson Lozano’s death.

Mendiola is the same witness who pointed to the Dominguez brothers in the kidnapping and death of Evangelista.

One of the accused in both cases, Napoleon Salamat, was killed in a firefight with police in Bulacan last Thursday. Salamat had been identified as the one who burned Emerson Lozano’s body.