Suspect in Taguig ‘gift bomb’ case may face slay raps
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended the filing of criminal charges against the suspect who allegedly delivered a “gift bomb” that killed a young mother in Taguig City last year.
In his resolution, Assistant Prosecution Attorney Gerard Gaerlan said there was enough evidence to file murder and illegal possession of explosives charges against Rhea Coroza Dalde-Obra.
Yvonne Chua, then 31, died instantly from the blast after she opened the gift at the living room of her family’s new house in Taguig on December 29 last year.
Chua’s husband, Vinson, and the national police filed the murder complaint against Obra in the DoJ.
“It is clear that the method and form of execution of placing several hand grenades inside an innocent-looking gift was indeed deliberately and consciously adopted by the attacker to insure the execution of the crime without the risk of reprisal or retaliation from the victim,” Gaerlan said in his resolution.
The positive identification of Obra by the complainants’ witness “must be given full credence,” he added.
The witness, Reynaldo Busalanan, a security guard at the victim’s former home in Parañaque City, said Obra handed him the gift for Yvonne on the evening of December 28, saying it was from the victim’s mother.
The victim’s family driver took the gift to the Chuas’ house in Taguig the next day.
Obra, a former house help of the victim’s brother, denied the allegation. She claimed that she was in her hometown in Famy, Laguna province, helping prepare for a barangay (village) event on December 28.
But Gaerlan noted that the security guard was able to talk to Obra, and that she had “actually handed him the gift.”
“The circumstances surrounding their encounter are reasonable basis that he can positively and correctly identify her and distinguish her as the same person who delivered the gift in the event he is asked to pinpoint the same lady,” Gaerlan said in the resolution.
Moreover, the state prosecutor said Busalanan appeared not to have any reason to fabricate lies against Obra. At a hearing at the DoJ, both Busalanan and Obra said they did not know each other.
Gaerlan junked Obra’s alibi, saying that the statements given by the witnesses she presented were “self-serving” as they were her friends, neighbors, and her father’s colleagues in their village.
The discrepancies in Obra’s recollection of the time and her activities “added to the suspicion that her alibi was fabricated,” weakening her alibi, Gaerlan said.
The resolution was approved by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.
