DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) filed criminal cases against the five suspects in the killing of Mati City prosecutor Rolando Acido.
Acido, 55, was shot outside the Hall of Justice in Barangay Dahican on Oct. 26.
Without naming them, National Bureau of Investigation-11 Special Investigator Elias Leano, Jr., said the five suspects are close to the political personalities in the province that are engaged in illegal activities like extortion, illegal mining and gun for hire.
He said “Before the day Atty. Acido was shot, he was actually handling a very sensitive case which involves these persons.”
Leano said they are awaiting the result after they recommended the filing of the murder to the Fiscal Office. The murder case was filed last Nov. 24.
Police Chief Inspector Hector Amancia of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and point person of the SITG Acido refused to name the five personalities behind the killing as this may affect the investigation and risk the lives of the witnesses. As of now, Amancia said they have four witnesses.
“These suspects are still at large, and we have plans to go after them so if we divulge these sensitive information then it might affect our operations against them,” he said.
Special Agent Atty. Samuel Balisi said Acido was handling “very sensitive cases.”
Balisi said aside from the four witnesses, Acido’s wife gave a detailed affidavit that substantiated the investigation of SITG.
Balisi said Acido’s wife told them “incriminating” revelations that were “very revealing.”
He said that they mainly focused the investigation on Acido’s ongoing cases before he died.
He also said the victim had dying declarations according to witnesses.
“While he was fighting for his life, he had some dying declarations about the sensitive cases that is why we pursued on that angle until some witness substantiated his declarations,” he said. (davaotoday.com)
