QC prosecutor changes view; slay suspect freed

Overnight, the weight of evidence changed.

A Quezon City prosecutor on Friday changed an earlier resolution and ordered the release of a 72-year-old suspect in the March 20 household attack that killed a businesswoman and seriously wounded her mother and their domestic helper.

Cenen Urbano underwent inquest proceedings on Thursday afternoon, after which Assistant City Prosecutor Alessandro Jurado recommended that he be charged with one count of robbery with homicide and two counts of frustrated murder.

But in an amended resolution issued the following day, Jurado said the charges against Urbano should undergo a regular preliminary investigation to determine probable cause. The new resolution was approved by inquest chief Rogelio Velasco.

Urbano was arrested in his house in Barangay Bago Bantay on Thursday for the killing of Ma. Salud Gatmaitan and the wounding of her 84-year-old mother, Noemi Pineda, and their housemaid Mayla Fadera at their house on Ipo Street, La Loma, Quezon City. Two other suspects—Urbano’s son-in-law Von Bernardo and a still unidentified man—remained at large.

Gatmaitan’s throat was slit, while the two other women suffered blows in the head and face.

Investigators said the attack had something to do with Gatmaitan’s lending business, noting that the two men who entered the house—Bernardo and his unidentified companion—were known to Gatmaitan and had ransacked the house for land titles given as collateral for loans as well as checks supposedly issued by Bernardo’s wife.

Police took Urbano for questioning after the victims’ neighbors managed to take down the license plate of the Mitsubishi Adventure used by the attackers as their getaway vehicle.  A check with the Land Transportation Office showed that the van was registered in his name.

The septuagenarian denied involvement in the killing, claiming that it was always his son-in-law who used the van. But two watch-your-car boys positively identified him as the man who alighted from the vehicle at the Sto. Domingo Church parking lot shortly after the killing. The boys said Urbano even promised to give them P5 if they would keep an eye on the Adventure.

But Urbano hurriedly took a jeepney at the sight of policemen on patrol, the witnesses further recalled.

In his amended resolution, Jurado noted that there was no statement on record that Urbano was involved in the crime and that there was no positive identification that he was at the crime scene with Bernardo.

“Even if there are witnesses to the fact that he was seen in possession of the vehicle after the commission of the crime, this does not translate to conspiracy,” Jurado added.

This was a departure from Jurado’s earlier evaluation which considered Urbano an accessory “after the fact” to the crime of robbery with homicide since the “getaway vehicle was found in his possession and (he) left it at the parking lot of Sto. Domingo Church.”

Also in his first resolution, Jurado concluded that the evidence was sufficient to hold Urbano for trial and recommended bail at P10,000 for his release.

Further investigation showed on Friday that it was Bernardo who, after a heated argument, allegedly attacked Gatmaitan by hitting her in the face with a gun and slashing her throat with a pair of scissors.

SPO1 Joselito Gagaza said Fadera was also tied up with packaging tape and beaten up, while the octogenarian Pineda was mauled as well.

Gatmaitan’s husband Isagani told police that his wife and Bernardo knew each other because of their business dealings.

The victim’s family also claimed to have lost around P3 million in cash during the incident.