Trader asks court to lift arrest warrant over Enzo Pastor slay

The alleged mastermind in the killing of international racing champ Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor has asked the Quezon City court to lift the warrant of arrest earlier issued against him.

Businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman III, through his lawyer Dennis Manalo, last week filed an omnibus motion asking the court to reconsider its Aug. 5 order, recall the arrest warrant and dismiss the murder case against him for lack of probable cause.

De Guzman argued that the court erred in finding probable cause on the basis of hearsay evidence.

In his Aug. 5 omnibus order, Judge Luisito Cruz of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 85 denied De Guzman’s motion for judicial determination of probable cause and issued a warrant of arrest.

The court cited the testimony of Alvin Nidua given to the National Bureau of Investigation, wherein Nidua said he was asked by barangay captain Borbie Rivera and Insp. Efren Oco to kill Pastor.

Nidua also said Rivera and Oco identified De Guzman as the mastermind. Nidua added that he didn’t accept the contract because he wanted a higher payment.

In his motion, De Guzman said Nidua’s testimony was “based on pure hearsay because he did not personally hear, nor was he even present during the planning of Pastor’s killing. The purported information was merely relayed to Nidua by a certain Inspector Oco.”

The court said it considered other supporting documents submitted by the prosecution but De Guzman noted that the court failed to specify factual and legal basis.

PO2 Edgar Angel, the alleged gunman and co-accused in the murder case, said in an extrajudicial confession that De Guzman hired him to kill Pastor because the car racer was physically abusing his wife Dalia Pastor. Angel, however, recanted his testimony.

“In view of the foregoing, accused respectfully beseeches this Honorable Court to reconsider and set aside its Order dated Aug. 5 in finding probable cause against accused and to recall and lift the Warrant of Arrest dated Aug. 5,” De Guzman’s motion said.

The accused also asked the court to suspend the implementation of his arrest warrant pending resolution of the motion.  Erika Sauler, Philippine Daily Inquirer