2 suspects in Diergos slay plead not guilty

ILOILO City – Two of the three suspects indicted by the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for the death of businesswoman Claire Diergos pleaded not guilty during their arraignment yesterday at the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 23 of Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras.

Raffy Sorioso was a resident of Barangay Poblacion, San Dionisio,

Iloilo while Rudilyn Sumbong, 24, was from Barangay Baclayan, New Lucena, Iloilo.

The third suspect, Gardo Ibrahim, remains at large.

The indictment was done virtually via Zoom, said Atty. Dwight Trasadas, lawyer of Sorioso.

“Nag plead not guilty akon client kay wala man sya sala,” Trasadas said.

According to Trasadas, Sorioso does not know how to drive a four-wheel motor vehicle, contrary to the claim of one witness that he saw the suspect drive the vehicle ta supposedly contained the slain Diergos.

He said he will file a motion to post bail.

Sorioso was detained at the detention cell of the Criminal

Investigation and Detective Group 6

(CIDG-6) after he surrendered on Monday afternoon while Sumbong was remitted to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Barangay Nanga, Pototan after she surrendered to the police on May 9.

Both Sorioso and Sumbong have had an arrest warrant (Criminal Case No.22-87457) for murder issued by Judge Contreras for killing Diergos.

N o b a i l b o n d wa s recommended f or t heir temporary liberty.

Diergos was found dead on Oct. 26, 2021 inside her sport utility vehicle in Barangay Inangayan, Santa Barbara, Iloilo.

The Special Investigation

Team (SIT) of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), however, determined that Diergos was actually killed in her house at Deca Homes subdivision in adjacent Pavia town.

Autopsy showed Diergos had multiple stab wounds: two on the neck, five on the left hand and two on the right hand. Her neck was slashed./