Police prepare children’s witness protection papers

Police are requesting the Department of Justice (DOJ) to place under the Witness Protection Program the minors who saw the murder of Fernando Canillo and his live-in partner Emma Beronguis.

The Women and Children Protection Desk of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) is preparing the documents, said Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza, LLCPO director.

Two of the children earlier identified Ricky Cadavero as one of the gunmen in last Thursday’s shooting in Lapu-Lapu City where Canillo and Beronguis’ 3-year-old son was also killed.

“Personnel from the DOJ brought the (application) forms last Monday,” he said. He said they need to wait for three months for the department to take action.

The two children, who are in a safe house, yesterday went through a psychological examination, one of the requirements of the DOJ program.

They refused to go with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) main office personnel since they were used to Lapu-Lapu City DSWD and police personnel watching over them, Obenza said.

“We cannot force them to move; otherwise, their trauma will worsen,” Obenza said. He said they are now persuading the children.

If their witness protection application is approved, the kids will be transferred to a location that even police won’t know about, Obenza said.

Ricric Laraño Beronguis, 17, who is recuperating in a Cebu City hospital, identified two suspects in a police file of 32 pictures.

“That’s the one who shot me,” he said, pointing to the photo of one man.

“Ricric is our last hope of identifying the suspect (whom the kids did not pinpoint) because the kids only identified Kambal (Cadavero).”

Ricric confirmed that four men barged into their house during the incident, Obenza said. One drew out a gun and shot him in the neck.

“It seems they made an example of Ricric so that Canillo would turn over whatever they were looking for,” Obenza said.

Police will endorse the application documents to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas, which will study the case.
Ricric told police Ricky Cadavero wasn’t the one who shot him.

“He (Ricric) is still in a critical condition but he reacts when we asks him questions though he has difficulty speaking.”

Obenza said they still don’t have a picture of another culprit whom sources described as a 60-year-old, longtime member of the Kuratong Baleleng gang.
But Obenza said they are “95 percent confident” about the identity of two other perpetrators and Ricky Cadavero.

Obenza Cadavero’s two cohorts were in Cebu during the incident.

They may have been with Cadavero in the P5-million heist of MLhuillier a few months ago.

Police will review close circuit television (CCTV) footage from Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge of the heist to determine the physical features of the two.

Meanwhile, Clarita Beronguis, mother of Canillo’s live-in partner Emma, has yet to claim her daughter and grandson’s bodies.

Beronguis needs to present documents to establish her relationship to the victims, Obenza said.