CIDG-7 seeks hold order on Bella

WITH a trial date on the Ellah Joy Pique kidnap-murder case still under deliberation, authorities moved to keep one of the suspects from fleeing Cebu.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) said they will file a hold departure order with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Bella Ruby Santos, one of the suspects in the case.

This after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) denied their motion for special raffle on the case.

The group said it filed the motion for fear that Santos  will leave the country to escape arrest.

CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna said they received information that Bella Ruby Santos is selling her properties in Naga City and is nowhere to be found.

But Regional Trial Court Cebu City Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo said he didn’t see any reason to immediately raffle the case.

Kidnap with homicide charges against Santos and Griffiths were already filed at the Criminal Records Section at 10 a.m. yesterday.

Because the case did not make it to the cutoff period, it will be raffled on Monday next week.

Dela Cerna said he will go to the Bureau of Immigration today to get a hold departure order for Santos.

Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths, who is under house arrest in Great Britian, were tagged suspects in the case.

Santos’ lawyer Ramses Villagonzalo earlier assured that his client won’t leave Cebu and will face the charges against her.

Since the victim is a minor, the case will be raffled to a family court judge.  In Cebu City, four judges are assigned to handle cases that involves minors and families.

These are Regional Trial Court Judge Ester Veloso, Manuel Patalinghug, Olegario Sarmiento and Bienvinido Saniel.

Santos and Griffiths were indicted by the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors in relation to the kidnap-slay of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last Feb. 8.

Villagonzalo complained about the failure of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office to furnish them a copy of the resolution on their motion for reconsideration.

He and other lawyers will file a petition for review to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

He questioned the findings of the three-man panel of prosecutors who found probable cause against his clients.

Villagonzalo cited inconsistencies in the the testimonies of the witnesses who accused his clients of committing the crime.

Cebu Daily News tried but failed to reach Santos through the phone yesterday. She also deactivated her Facebook account. /Ador Vincent Mayol and Carine M. Asutilla