Griffiths won’t be in Cebu for Bella

THOUGH he professed his love for her, Briton Ian Charles Griffiths won’t set foot in Cebu to stand trial with Bella Ruby Santos on kidnap with homicide charges.

Santos’ lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo said the Briton doesn’t trust the Cebu police’s investigation into the case that implicated him and Santos on the murder of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.

“Griffiths assured full support for Santos and that he still loves her”, Villagonzalo told Cebu Daily News.

Villagonzalo said he was surprised over Santos’ arrest in SM Megamall, Manila last Friday afternoon.

In a phone interview, Santos’ sister Ana Marion Lalican said Bella wasn’t hiding because she merely wanted to wait on the Department of Justice (DOJ) decision to review the resolution of the prosecutors on her case.

“While waiting for the DOJ decision she just want to stroll around. She just want to be happy. If she was hiding, she wouldn’t have strolled in a mall,” Lalican said.

She said she went to Manila last Friday after she learned of Santos’s arrest.

She said Bella traveled to Boracay, Aklan, Subic Bay in Olongapo City and Puerto Galera but not in Bohol contrary to earlier reports.

“She kept on travelling. But we don’t know where she got her money. She has always been a big spender,” Lalican told Cebu Daily News.

She said only Bella’s lawyer has direct contact with Griffiths.

Santos is scheduled to arrive in Cebu this afternoon.

Villagonzalo said he will file a motion for reconsideration on the dismissal of their first omnibus motion for judicial determination of probable cause.

The petition to be filed before the Regional Trial Court branch 6 will also cover the recall of the arrest warrant and dismissal of the information on the case.

Villagonzalo said he will also file a petition for bail, insisting that the evidence in the case is weak.

He said he will also ask the court to transfer Bella Santos from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center to the Naga City Jail.

He said a warden’s statement that Santos will be made the star attraction of their dancing inmates is a bad joke.

Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Cebu provincial police chief and spokesman of Task Force Ellah Joy, said their latest information placed Santos in Bohol province and not in Manila where she was eventually arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation.

Comendador said they will evaluate the informant who facilitated the arrest of Santos for his or her cash reward. /Jhunnex Napallacan and Marian Z. Codilla