MANILA, Philippines–The Pasay City policeman who earlier owned up to the killing of racing champion Enzo Pastor retracted his testimony on Monday, claiming that his confession was a “script” prepared by lawmen who wanted to capitalize on his friendship with one of the accused, businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman III.
Accompanied by his lawyer Enrique de la Cruz, PO2 Edgar Angel made the recantation in a counteraffidavit he submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the eve of the scheduled preliminary investigation into the murder and frustrated murder charges filed against him, De Guzman and Pastor’s widow, Dalia.
In his previous affidavit, Angel claimed that De Guzman and Dalia were having an affair and they hired him to kill Pastor for P100,000 because he was a wife-beater.
“The ‘extrajudicial confession’ was well-scripted. All details about how Pastor was killed were fabricated by the policemen [who arrested me] and did not come from me. The scriptwriters were the policemen and I was only made the protagonist in the script,” Angel said.
According to him, even his arrest on drug charges in a buy-bust operation around 2 p.m. on Aug. 24 on Boni Serrano Road in Libis, Quezon City, was “doctored” by the police.
He claimed that he was really arrested at 1 a.m. in Metrowalk, Pasig City, and taken to Camp Karingal, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) headquarters.
To prove his claim, Angel presented the testimony of a Metrowalk security guard who witnessed his apprehension at 1 a.m.
During his “real” arrest, Quezon City policemen found no drugs on him, even in his car, he said, adding that in the supposed reenactment, he was found to be carrying “shabu,” or methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Angel admitted that he and De Guzman were friends as their respective wives were classmates. The police, however, seized on their friendship to link him to Pastor’s murder.
“It’s not a sin to be friends with Sandy. But when I told the police, they wanted to twist their facts to suit their own agenda,” he said.
On why he thought he was framed, Angel said that QCPD officials were under heavy pressure to solve the killing to hold on to their posts after President Aquino called for its resolution in his State of the Nation Address.
According to him, he did not insist on his innocence because he got scared after he was threatened by the arresting officers.
“[R]ight at the very start when I was under the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), some police [officials] told me pointblank that if I did not cooperate, all the unsolved crimes in Quezon City would be [blamed] on me. They said they would just escort me to some place and shoot me, making it appear that I grabbed a gun and tried to fight it out. That’s why I was always afraid about what they would do to me,” he added.
During his detention, some CIDU operatives were “ceaselessly” interrogating him, making him sleepless and “always insinuating” that he would be harmed if he refused to cooperate, he said.
According to him, two Public Attorney’s Office lawyers who were asked by the police to assist him in signing his confession did not do so because he told them he was innocent.
When another lawyer from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Quezon City chapter (IBP) was summoned, Angel said he was forced to sign the confession because he was scared he would end up dead.
“I was afraid because the police might escort me elsewhere after returning to Camp Karingal. I could not do anything, especially when the policemen asked me to sign the confession. I signed the ‘extrajudicial confession’ under duress,” he claimed.
Sought for comment, the head of the QCPD-CIDU denied that the suspect was pressured into admitting that he killed Pastor.
“We believe what he said [in his testimony] was true,” Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo said in a phone interview.
Marcelo added that when Angel signed the affidavit in the presence of an IBP lawyer, he was assisted by his brother and father, both of whom are also lawyers.
“He swore to it to a Quezon City prosecutor and again to a DOJ state prosecutor during inquest,” he said.
Of Angel’s allegations that he made the confession under threat, Marcelo pointed to the suspect’s background. “He’s a second-year law student. He knows his rights. He’s a former policeman. He knows the law.
“Whatever his allegations are now, we will answer those according to proper procedure,” Marcelo said.
“We will wait for what the prosecutor has to say about this. We will respect whatever the decision will be,” he added.–With a report from Jaymee Gamil
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