P500T ‘offered’ for witness to recant

We have to be alert,” said a police lawyer.

Task Force Ellah Joy Pique is seeking the intervention of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to secure around 15 witnesses who are set to testify against Bella Ruby Santos and British partner Ian Charles Griffiths.

According to the police, one witness was offered P500,000 to recant statements earlier made against the primary suspects in the kidnap-slay of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.

Three other “vital witness” were also approached with bribe offers to get them to drop their testimonies. No details of the alleged bribe attempts were disclosed by the police.

“The reports are confirmed,” said lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna, counsel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) and the task force, after a case conference yesterday.

“We know in particular who approached the witnesses. The bribe money must have come from them (the accused). Who else is directly affected in this case?” he said.

A request was earlier filed before the DOJ to place the witnesses under the state’s witness protection program. In the meantime, law enforcers have been assigned to secure the witnesses in their homes, said the lawyer.

“We have to be alert. It would be very difficult if our witnesses will be taken by the other camp,” Dela Cerna told Cebu Daily News.

Santos and Griffiths have repeatedly said they were innocent of the crime, which involved abducting a grade school pupil who was walking home from school in Minglanilla town last Feb. 8 then dumping her body over 30 kilometers away in the town of Barili in Cebu’s west coast.

Defense lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo has denied similar reports that a CIDG agent was receiving monthly payola to spy on police operations against Santos when she was at large.

In interview last Wednesday, Rameses said they are ready to prove the innocence of the accused during trial.

“Bella isn’t ashamed of anything or sad because she and Ian are 100 percent innocent,” said Villagonzalo, who will be collaborating with lawyers Julius Caesar Entice, Lyndon Maceren, Ronel Ubod and Roberto Rublico.

Santos, who evaded an arrest warrant for almost three months, was detained last Monday at the Naga City Jail following after her arrest in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City by an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

After her well-publicized entry in the jail, she declined interviews.

When reporters visited the jail Tuesday, a sheet of plywood was placed on the steel bar door of the female’s detention facility, preventing visual contact from outside.

Lawyer Joan Saniel-Amit, executive director of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB), which is representing Ellah Joy’s family, said the need to place witnesses under the supervision of the DOJ was “urgent.”

Of the 15 witnesses, six are minors.

CLB lawyers and public prosecutors yesterday met with the task force, which is led by Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador and officials of the CIDG-7.

Another meeting is set on Oct. 19 with Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba before Santos’ arraignment on Oct. 24.

CLB lawyer Noemi Truya-Abarientos said they discussed with the task force yesterday how to go about the case, the availability of witnesses, and how to forestall “payoff” attempts.

While the task force claims they have strong evidence to prove the guilt of Santos and Griffiths, defense lawyers said the allegations were simply fabricated.

A petition for bail, on the ground that the evidence against accused is not strong, will be filed by Santos’ lawyers.

The CIDG-7 said the attempt to bribe the witnesses took place last July.

“We know who approached the witnesses,” Dela Cerna said but declined to identify the party.

He said the witnesses didn’t accept the bribe money and instead reported the incident to the task force.

Dela Cerna said they have at last 15 witnesses, including six minors. They all continue to stay in their respective houses.

Ellah Joy’s father Renante said he is confident the witnesses won’t back out of the case.

And if someone asks him to withdraw the charges against Santos and Griffiths, Renante said, “Ako latuson ang moanhi diri (I will whip anyone who comes and tries).”

“Wala ni atrasay. Padayon na gyud ni (There is no turning back. We have to continue the fight),” Renante told Cebu Daily News.

He said he will be sending someone to the Naga City Jail to “guard” Santos.

Last Wednesday, a police source told CDN Santos’ family brought “humba” and vegetables for Bella to eat and share with other detainees as well as jail guards, who were allegedly asked not allow the media to come in the jail.

Naga City Jail warden Jenesis Mongcopa yesterday denied the reports and repeated his assurance there would be “no special treatment” for Santos.

“We don’t accept food donations from the prisoners’ visitors. That is prohibited,” said.

He said the food was probably intended for Santos alone.

The warden said Santos’ “immediate relatives” have been visiting her and she spends the day talking with three other female detainees since no electronic gadgets or cell phones are allowed in the jail.

The detainees are brought out early in the morning to breathe fresh air then are returned to their concrete cell.  With a report by Gabriel Bonjoc