Suspects in slay of ex-town mayor arrested
Operatives from the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) recently arrested two of the province’s most wanted persons and suspects in the murder of former San Joaquin, Iloilo mayor Jesus Sibya.
IPPO director Senior Superintendent Ricardo Dela Paz said Lino Napao and Nemesio Panugot were cornered by the IPPO operatives at their respective houses in San Joaquin after eight years in hiding.
Napao was in his house in Brgy. Balabago during the arrest while Panugot was in his house in Brgy Lawigan.
Together with Napao and Panugot, the Warrant of Arrest issued by Judge Danilo Galvez also subjected the persons of former San Joaquin Mayor Sebastian “Bastek” Serag as the mastermind with no bail recommended, Vice Mayor Marilyn Silfavan charged as accomplice to the killing, brothers Teodorico, Vicente and Abraham dela Cruz who were named as accessories to the crime, Thomix Segumalian, Jose Oliver Segumalian, Rodolfo Talanquines, Roque Sanmillan, Edgar Sta. Cruz and Eleazar Sañol
It was learned that Sibya while having his reelection bid for town mayoralty race was murdered three days before the 2001 elections with Serag as the prominent opponent. The victim was with his personal driver Norberto Salamat III who was also wounded in the incident.
To recall, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Resolution No. 258 dated May 20, 2002 downgraded the charges from murder to homicide and attempted murder to attempted homicide.
Said DOJ change of heart got the accused out of jail particularly the former Mayor who was then in detention with the other principal accused at the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center (IRC).
The victim’s wife Ma. Daisy Sibya who ultimately became town mayor filed a Motion for Reconsideration and filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals (CA).
Yet in succeeding legal battle with the accused freed on bail and former Mayor Serag even able to recently lodge a campaign for his reelection bid as San Joaquin mayor, another change of heart from the DOJ happened.
The DOJ in a November 18, 2002 Resolution reverted to the original charges of murder and attempted murder that again sparked some four years of legal exchange. Pool of noted criminal Ilonggo lawyers faced off with government prosecutors in a case that became a political issue for former Mayor Serag.
The Court of Appeals in a Decision last October 20, 2005 ruled that the Regional Trial Court “acted with inordinate and precipitate haste when it granted the Provincial Prosecutor’s motion for the admission of the Second Amended Information for homicide, ordered the withdrawal of Criminal Case No. 926 for attempted homicide based on Resolution No. 258 of the DOJ Secretary, and arraigned the accused therein for homicide.”