Woman says sorry for phone theft, pays then ends up dead in packaging tape

ORMOC CITY—Six policemen here were charged with killing an elderly woman who had been accused of stealing a smart phone but sought forgiveness and tried to pay for the gadget in a shop in the city.

A complaint for murder was filed against the six policemen—Chief Insp. Omar Cartalla, PO3 Eleazar Tero, PO2 Ernie Clemencio, PO1 Ritchie Sy and PO1 Ryan Refuerzo.

Cartalla was head of the city’s Police Station 1 while Tero was its intelligence officer.

A separate complaint for arbitrary detention was filed against Tero and Clemencio.

Chief Insp. Shevert Alvin Machete, police director of Kananga town, Leyte province, filed the complaints with  the Ormoc prosecutor’s office on Monday.

The policemen have been relieved from their posts and are in restrictive custody at the headquarters of the Eastern Visayas regional police in Palo town, Leyte.

They were accused of involvement in the killing of Lorna Soza, of Tacloban City and in her 60s, who was found dead on a grassy lot in the village of Naghalin in Kananga town on Aug. 11.

Soza was wrapped in packaging tape when her body was found in Kananga.

A gunshot wound nearly disfigured her face.

Soza was accused of stealing a smart phone worth P13,900 from a store inside a mall on Bonifacio Street in this city on Aug. 6.

She was identified through security camera footage and was taken to Ormoc Police Station 1 following her arrest on the same day.

At the police station, Soza asked for forgiveness and offered to pay for the phone with all the money she had in her wallet—P10,300.

But Soza was not released even if no complaint was filed against her.

On Aug. 11, five days after her arrest and detention, Soza was removed from her cell and forced into a police vehicle before dawn.

She was found dead in Kananga town later in the morning.