Revenge eyed in Mendiola slay

Raymond Dominguez. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines – Revenge for helping put the notorious Dominguez brothers behind bars may have prompted the killing of state witness Alfred Mendiola and two other men whose bodies were found in Cavite on Sunday.

In a case conference at Camp Crame Tuesday, vengeance came up as a motive for Mendiola’s murder and it appeared the two other victims were just “collateral damage.”

It also looked like some people were out to silence Mendiola, who had turned state’s evidence against brothers Roger and Raymond Dominguez in a carjacking with homicide case last year.

The Dominguezes were the alleged leaders of a car theft ring while Mendiola was one of their minions. The brothers are in jail on another carjacking conviction.

Officers of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (HPG) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) were initially reluctant to talk about a motive in a press briefing following the case conference, until a slide from a PowerPoint presentation made at the conference minutes earlier accidentally flashed on a screen in view of the Camp Crame reporters.

The presentation identified two  “possible motives” for Mendiola’s killing: Vengeance for his testimony against the Dominguez brothers and to silence him and keep him from testifying further. The other victims, it said, were collateral damage. The projector was stopped after a few seconds.

But the HPG and CIDG officers said they were not discounting other angles and would continue to gather evidence.

“First we need to determine: Is the (Dominguez brothers case) the case that brought this on? There are pieces of evidence we gather every day. We will know,” HPG director Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina told reporters.

Mendiola and the two other victims, Mark Herrera and Eriberto Jumaquio, were found bound and gagged with bullet wounds in their heads in Dasmariñas, Cavite, Sunday morning.

The Dominguez brothers are facing car theft with homicide charges for the killing of car dealers Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano in January 2011. Mendiola had posed as a buyer of Evangelista’s vehicle.

Espina said Mendiola was a “very important witness” but noted that he had finished giving his testimony in the Dominguezes’ trial.

Jumaquio, 53, was the driver of the Toyota Grandia that Hererra, 27, uncle of Mendiola’s boyfriend Dave Alora, 19, had contracted for Mendiola. The vehicle was recovered by police on Tuesday morning in Baclaran, Parañaque City.

Reveal cops on list

Evangelista’s father, Arsenio Evangelista, yesterday urged Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to reveal a supposed list of police and government officials allegedly linked to car theft.

Evangelista recalled that sometime last year, Robredo made a reference to a list of about 20 policemen including a general who had links to car theft gangs.

Aside from this, there was a similar list of Land Transportation Office personnel that the interior secretary reportedly mentioned.

“What happened to the lists?” Evangelista asked.

He said that after charges were filed against the Dominguez brothers, the lists seemed to have been forgotten.

Amend WPP law

Mendiola used to be in the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) but he left it in the days before his death.

Also yesterday, Evangelista and lawyer Oliver Lozano, father of victim Emerson, met with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to call for amendments to Republic Act No. 6981 or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefits Program.

“We feel the Witness Protection Program law needs to be amended. Under the present law, a breach of the agreement (leads to the) termination (of the witness) as a state witness. If there is a breach, you can terminate,” Lozano said.

“(But) if you terminate the witness, you may lose the case. We need a witness to convict,” he said.

Lozano said the WPP should be empowered to restrain the movement of witnesses and “that only the courts should have the power to order a witness to leave the WPP.”

“(Mendiola) didn’t want restriction. He wanted to be able to go around freely. We told him that was not allowed because he was high risk,” De Lima said. With reports from Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Julie M. Aurelio and Philip C. Tubeza