Claim is ‘ridiculous,’ says Osmeña
“Why only now? (The late Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta) Imok wanted to join (Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan) BOPK. Why would I want to kill him?”
This was how Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña answered speculations after a prosecution witness in the Rupinta murder case alleged that an Osmeña paid for the village chief ’s murder.
The pronouncement came as a response to the supplemental affidavit filed by Rolando Alvares Pacres last Feb. 9, two months after his first affidavit was submitted to the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor.
In his supplemental affidavit, Pacres, 41, narrated his conversation with former Cebu City market operations chief Winefredo “Wine” Miro, who has been tagged as the mastermind of the ambush that killed Rupinta some three months ago. he alleged that Miro had summoned him and confirmed that his boss, Osmeña, had approved a budget of P200,000 and two .45 pistols for the planned attack on the chief.
In a phone interview yesterday, Osmeña stood pat that the matter is just a “cheap plot” by his opponents.
He added that Pacres may just have been paid by his opponents to implicate him in the ambush on Rupinta.
“I think it’s just somebody they plucked off who’s willing to get a lot of money. Why will I kill Imok?”
Mayor Osmeña, though, has yet to decide on whether he will be taking legal action on the matter or not, calling it “ridiculous.”
“Actually, I don’t have to do anything because the burden of proof is on them. Of course, it’s very clear (that the issue is fabricated),” he said.