Man nabbed for model’s killing now out on bail

Julie Ann Rodelas

One of the men arrested by authorities in connection with the killing last year of part-time model Julie Ann Rodelas is now free.

A judge has ordered the release of Gelan Pasawilan after he posted bail of P80,000 for the illegal possession of firearms charge pending against him in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 223.

Desk officer Senior Police Officer 4 Juan Mortel of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said they received the order from Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero Tuesday and Pasawilan was released a little past 2 p.m.

He will have to return to court, however, on Jan. 21 for his arraignment.

Pasawilan was one of two men arrested at the Salaam Compound in Barangay (village) Culiat, Quezon City, in November after the police raided the area in their search for the suspects in the killing of Rodelas.

Although he was not among the men they were looking for, the police took him in for carrying an unlicensed firearm, an Uzi automatic pistol.

The other man arrested during the raid, Jaymar Waradji, was later charged with the murder of Rodelas, along with two of the victim’s friends, fellow model Althea Altamirano and her boyfriend, Fernando Quiambao Jr.

The murder case is also being handled by Lutero.

Waradji, who has offered to turn state witness, told the police that he helped Quiambao kidnap the 20-year-old Rodelas along with two other men identified as Efren Talib and a certain Aldos.

The victim was later shot dead and her body dumped by the roadside in Cubao, Quezon City, on Nov. 6.

Police investigation showed that the murder was allegedly fueled by Altamirano’s supposed grudge against Rodelas who was reportedly spreading rumors about her.