WITNESS TAGS OSMEÑA
Witness Roland Pacres executes a new affidavit in which he links “Osmeña” to the ambush that killed village chief Imok Rupinta Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña describes development as “a cheap plot” to trigger his preventive suspension from office
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña says the submission of prosecution witness Roland Pacres’s supplemental affidavit is “a ridiculous concoction” that’s meant to provoke his preventive suspension
A prosecution witness in the Rupinta murder case has alleged that an Osmeña paid for the village chief ’s murder.
In his supplemental affidavit, Rolando Alvares Pacres, 41, narrated his conversation with former Cebu City market operations chief Winefredo “Wine” Miro, who was has been tagged as the mastermind of the ambush that killed Barangay Captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta some three months ago.
Pacres submitted his supplemental affidavit last Feb. 9, two months after his first affidavit.
In this new affidavit, he alleged that Miro had summoned him and confirmed that his
Why did Pacres, 41, execute a second affidavit? He says that a lawyer had warned him his allegation was hearsay, but that he wanted to “tell the truth” and “help Rupinta’s family find justice”
“boss” had approved a budget of P200,000 and two .45 pistols for the planned attack on the chief.
“At the very outset, I was afraid to divulge the truth as to who was referred to by Miro as his boss. When Miro mentioned his boss, I asked him, ‘Kinsa man gud na imo boss? Basin ug di unya na kabayad ha, dako baya ni nga kantidad (I asked him, ‘Who’s your boss? What if he can’t pay you that large amount?),” Pacres said.
“After I asked him this, Miro answered, ‘Ang-ang ug kinsa Lan, di gud ko tawo ni Rama, nahibalo na ka ug kinsay atbang ni Rama, si Osmeña (Who else would do this, Lan? I’m not identified with Rama, and you know who’s Rama’s opponent. That’s Osmeña),” Pacres said in his supplemental affidavit. No first names were provided for either Rama or Osmeña.
Osmeña said the matter is just a “cheap plot” by his enemies.
Last December, the Police Regional Intelligence Division lodged murder and attempted murder complaints against Miro after he was identified as the alleged mastermind in the ambush on Rupinta in Liloan town last Nov. 23. The murder charge was for Rupinta’s death while the attempted murder charge was for his partner, Jocelyn Mendoza, who was with the captain in his vehicle during the attack.
In his supplemental affidavit, Pacres maintained that Miro was the mastermind behind the attack “based on my (his) personal knowledge.” He did not see the attack itself, but claimed he spoke with Miro about it.
Pacres also said he did not mention the name of Miro’s boss when a police officer and a lawyer asked him while his first affidavit was being drawn up, because he was afraid for his and his family’s safety.
“I knew how influential this boss is, so I decided not to mention it to the police officer,” he said. He also recalled that a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office advised him that what he said about Miro was hearsay and that he risked getting sued.
“But it doesn’t matter to me now. My only hope is that by telling this truth, I would somehow be able to help Rupinta’s family find justice, which they rightfully deserve,” Pacres said.
In a text, Osmeña said he believed that the development was fabricated by opponents. “I believe this is a cheap plot by (Presidential Assistant Michael) Dino, SM and ( Justice) Secretary (Vitaliano) Aguirre. It’s a ridiculous concoction they hope will be good enough to get me a preventive suspension enabling (Vice Mayor Edgardo) Labella to assume and make a sweet compromise with SM so they can complete stealing the South Road Properties worth P40 billion,” he said.