Suspect in model’s slay caught on Pasay restaurant’s CCTV

AT LARGE Suspects Efren Talib (left) and a man known only as Aldos, as described by a potential state witness in the Julie Ann Rodelas killing.

MANILA, Philippines—One of the two suspects in the murder of commercial model Julie Ann Rodelas who are still at large was caught by a closed-circuit television camera eating at a Pasay City restaurant just before the model’s abduction and killing last week.

Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the closed-circuit television camera at the  Ocean Bay restaurant had footage showing Efren Talib with Jaymar Waradji and Fernando Quiambao Jr. at the restaurant on the night of November 5.

Both Waradji and Quiambao have been arrested and are in police custody but Talib and another suspect identified only as Aldos have eluded arrest.

Ocean Bay is the same restaurant where Waradji told investigators he had dined with Quiambao Talib on the night of November 5.

At a little past midnight or early  November 6, Rodelas was abducted by men aboard a black Mitsubishi Montero on  Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City. She was later shot dead and dumped in Cubao, Quezon City.

Marcelo said the new footage confirmed Waradji’s claim that he and Talib dined at the Ocean Bay restaurant  Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, just in the vicinity of where Rodelas was kidnapped.

In implicating his cohorts, Waradji said Quiambao, a tattoo shop owner, sought his and Talib’s help in “teaching Rodelas a lesson.” This was after Quiambao’s girlfriend, Althea Altamirano, claimed that the victim had been spreading rumors that Altamirano had two kids.

Police investigation established that the murder was motivated by Altamirano’s grudge against her friend.

Quiambao was first identified through a CCTV footage at a McDonald’s UN Avenue branch, where he was seen buying cheeseburger meals at 2:33 a.m. of November 6.

The receipt for the takeout meal was later recovered from Rodelas’ left hand at the crime scene.

Altamirano, Quiambao and Waradji were arrested last weekend and have been charged with murder for Rodelas’ death.

Based on the footage, Quiambao and his group arrived at  the Ocean Bay restaurant shortly after 8 p.m. November 5. Marcelo said the trio stayed there for about an hour.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Mario Dela Vega said he has sent out additional teams to go after Talib and Aldos.

In his statement, Waradji insinuated that Talib and Aldos raped the 20-year-old parttime model before she was killed.

Rodelas was laid to rest Saturday in Parañaque City.

Meanwhile, Quiambao, Altamirano and Waradji are set to be arraigned on murder charges on Monday morning.

In a one-page order dated Noember. 15, Judge Caridad Walse Lutero of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 223 set the arraignment on Novebmer 19 at 8:30 a.m.