Enzo Pastor slay ‘mastermind’ released

MANILA, Philippines–The businessman tagged as the mastermind in the murder of international car racer Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor walked out of detention in Quezon City on Tuesday after posting bail in relation to the complaint over the two unlicensed pistols seized from him during his arrest in Muntinlupa City last week.

Domingo “Sandy” De Guzman was released on the same day that a lawyer earlier representing Pastor’s parents announced his withdrawal and authorities reported that a woman believed to be Pastor’s wife Dalia—who is also a suspect in the June 12 killing—was listed as a passenger on a chopper flight out of Metro Manila that was eventually canceled on Sunday.

De Guzman, a car shop owner whom police described as Dalia’s lover, posted bail at P80,000 and left the detention center of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit around noon, according to QCPD-CIDU head Insp. Elmer Monsalve.

This was a day after Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva of the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the filing of charges for illegal possession of firearms against De Guzman in the Muntinlupa City prosecutor’s office.

When arrested on Aug. 26 at his car shop in Muntinlupa, De Guzman failed to produce documents for the two pistols—a .45-caliber and a 9-mm—that were recovered from him, the QCPD earlier said.

Lawyer ‘uncomfortable’

Also on Tuesday, Salvador Panelo said he would no longer represent the Pastor family, saying he was “uncomfortable” being their lawyer in the complaints pending in the DOJ because he is a friend to both the slain Enzo and the implicated Dalia.

“The couple have been close to me for the last five years,” Panelo said in a phone interview. “In view of my personal and professional relationship with the couple, I feel I’m no longer comfortable representing the Pastor family.”

Panelo said he started lawyering for the Pastors five years ago when Enzo’s parents, Thomas and Remy, hired him for a corporate-related civil suit in Mandaluyong city.

He also represented Dalia the following year when she filed a complaint for acts of lasciviousness. Panelo declined to name the person she had sued, saying the case was eventually settled.

“I share the sentiments of the Pastor family. I am also saddened, shocked, praying and hoping it’s not true (that Dalia was involved in the plot). But we are deferring to the knowledge and expertise of the investigators and have no choice but to abide by the investigation’s results,” Panelo said. “When I took this case, I didn’t know Dalia would be involved.”

CAAP: ‘Dalia’ booked on chopper

Meanwhile, a report from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) showed that a person named Dalia Pastor and believed to be Enzo’s widow was supposed to board a helicopter taking off Sunday from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) for Caliraya, Laguna province.

The CAAP earlier received a flight plan for the private chopper (RP-C226), which was supposed to be piloted by Capt. Ed Mijares and leave the Naia’s General Aviation Area at 10 a.m. Sunday. The supposed passengers included two men and a certain Dalia Pastor.

The CAAP said that before the helicopter could take off that day, it alerted the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) about it because of the passenger list.

But the woman listed as Pastor did not show up for the flight and it was eventually canceled, it said. CAAP declined to release the names of the two male copassengers.

‘Person of interest’

Dalia is not facing an arrest warrant but has been declared “a person of interest” by the DOJ after the police last week filed a slew of criminal complaints against her, De Guzman and PO2 Edgar Angel, the self-confessed gunman, in connection with Enzo’s murder.

Aside from being sued for illegal gun possession, De Guzman also faces murder and frustrated murder complaints that are still subject to preliminary investigation at the DOJ. He is represented in the cases by lawyer Dennis Manalo.

Also facing the same charges is Angel of the Pasay City police, who was first arrested by the QCPD in a drug bust but later admitted his role in the Pastor murder and helped the police find De Guzman. He remains in QCPD custody.

Dalia is facing parricide and frustrated murder charges, after being implicated based on Angel’s claim that she was present when De Guzman met him late last year to have Pastor killed in exchange for P100,000.

The frustrated murder charges are in relation to the case of Paolo Salazar, Pastor’s assistant who was wounded in the ambush at a Quezon City intersection on the night of June 12.

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