Gov helps police with Tipster’s Program

The Capitol has joined the hunt for the elusive Bella Ruby Santos, who is wanted on charges of kidnapping and homicide for the death of 6-year-old pupil Ellah Joy Pique.

“We are putting up P300,000 as reward money… This is a special case under the province’s Tipster Program,” Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia told reporters yesterday.

The cash reward will go to anyone who has information that would lead to the arrest of Santos, who is accused of the Feb. 8 crime along with her London-based boyfriend Ian Charles Griffiths.

The couple have denied any hand in the disappearance of the little girl, who was walking home from school when she accepted a stranger’s offer for a ride home.

Governor Garcia said the identity of the tipster will be given strict confidentiality.

The reward can be given “to anyone”, she said.

“We have no qualifications. We have a very well-established process of validating the information.”

The P300,000 is on top of a P50,000 reward reportedly pooled from contributions of policemen and announced last month by Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Commendador Jr., PNP provincial director.

He met with Garcia the other day at the Capitol where he discussed the progress of the case,which suffered a setback when Santos disappeared in August, shortly before the court issued a warrant for her arrest.

The governor said the Capitol’s reward was made “in support of our PNP” and that the police force’s own P50,000 was a separate fund.

“That’s their reward I won’t touch that,” she said.

The Tipster Program is under the Cebu Provincial Anti-Crime Task Force which was created last year and is headed by the governor.

Task force members include representatives from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

The P300,000 reward can be given “to anyone. Wala tay qualifications. We have a very well established process of validating,” said Governor Garcia yesterday.

Funding is sourced from the province’s P25 million Peace and Order Program.

One of Santos’ lawyer, Julius Caesa Entise, repeated that his client was innocent and that it was the Provincial Government’s choice to dangle a reward.

“It’s really their prerogative but we maintain our previous position, we will convince Bella to come out in the open so we can dispense of the case,” he said.

Police lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna said the P300,000 reward was “a welcome move”.

“It shows the concern of the governor to give justice to Ellah Joy. It also raises awareness of the public of the heinous crime committed and the mockery of the legal processes committed by Bella Ruby in continuosly and shamelessly hiding from the folds of the law,” he said in a text message.