Show yourself, police chief tells Bella; DOJ protection sought

CEBU police called on kidnap-homicide suspect Bella Ruby Santos to show up in public to avoid suspicion that she has left the country.

Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., Cebu provincial police chief, issued the challenge after Santos’ lawyers said their client isn’t hiding and will not resist once the police receives a court warrant for her arrest.

Comendador said Santos should present herself to the media.  The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) is seeking  a hold departure order from the Bureau of Immigration against Santos.

Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths were charged with the kidnap-murder of Minglanilla student Ellah Joy Pique last February.  Pique would have celebrated her seventh birthday this week.

In a  TV interview at her mother’s residence in Naga last week, Santos said she won’t leave the country but planed to go out of town for  a vacation in Bohol or Boracay. She said she would  surrender to the police if  the court issues an arrest warrant.

Comendador said their reports indicated that Santos is in hiding, a claim denied by Santos’ lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo.

Pique was snatched by a couple suspected to be Santos and Griffiths outside her school in barangay Calajoan, Minglanilla town, last Feb. 8.

Ellah Joy’s body was found at the bottom of a cliff near Sayaw Beach in Barili town the next day.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) said they will secure the witnesses for the case under their witness protection program.

Assistant Regional Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila, program  implementor, said the minor witnesses will be under custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Avila said witnesses to be admitted under the program should show evidence of threats to life or bodily injury.

Witnesses under the DOJ’s witness protection program will be placed in a safe house, granted with allowances, and provided with security escorts.

Cebu Daily News tried but was unable to contact CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna for his side on the incident.

Task Force Ellah Joy has at least 12 witnesses against Santos and Griffiths, whom two witnesses claimed had dumped Pique’s body off a cliff in Barili.

Santos and Griffiths are indicted on charges of kidnapping with homicide. No bail was recommended Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol and Correspondent Gabriel C. Bonjoc