MONEY ‘WAS THE MOTIVE’
The family of Air Force Staff Sgt. Mark Herbert Oberes says he’d been getting death threats from the mother and boyfriend of an ex-girlfriend, after he asked her and her mother to pay back the P50,000 they owed him.
Staff Sgt. Mark Herbert Oberes allegedly received death threats from the mother and boyfriend of Resamie Cabañog early last month, contrary to her claim that it was the Philippine Air Force ( PAF) official who threatened her.
His family yesterday said that Resamie and her mother borrowed P50,000 from him so they could finance their eatery business near an ongoing construction of a mall in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City last August.
Oberes family called for a press conference in their residence in Barangay Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City to make some clarifications following the discovery of Oberes’s body last Wednesday.
Bert Padilla, brother-in-law of Oberes, said Joshua Garciano, the boyfriend of Cabañog, allegedly threatened Oberes between Jan. 2 and 4 this year.
“Ang death threats ni Joshua, naa mi screenshot sa conversation like ‘ Makatilaw lang ka, bai. Gamay ra ang kalibutan,” Padilla said.
After Garciano’s threats, Cabañog’s mother Edna, who was tagged as the crime’s mastermind, also threatened Oberes, he said.
According to Padilla, these threats were sent through text messages and Facebook messenger.
The Oberes family gained access to the PAF officer’s Facebook Messenger and retrieved some messages that the suspects sent to the victim.
It was also last month that Oberes demanded payment from Cabañog and Edna.
Oberes was found dead inside a burned vehicle in Sitio Tal-ot in Barangay Valencia, Carcar City.
He was brought there by six suspects, including Cabañog, Garciano and Edna.
According to witnesses, Oberes was mauled and shot several times inside Corazon Village 2 in Barangay San Isidro, Talisay City by the suspects before his body was loaded into a white vehicle and transported to Carcar City last Wednesday night.
Initially, authorities were looking at a love triangle as the main motive of the crime.
Padilla said the Oberes family believe it is more than that because the suspects have a “personal grudge” against the victim, based on the text messages and Facebook Messenger posts they recovered.
His sister Diana, Oberes’s wife, admitted that she knew about her husband’s affair with Cabañog.
She also said that Cabañog knew Oberes was married before joining her husband’s networking group.
This is contrary to Cabañog’s claim that she only found out he had a wife late in their relationship.
The Oberes family said Cabañog made up the story that Oberes threatened to post their sex video on social media if she didn’t go back to him.
Oberes was first introduced to Cabañog on Facebook last April for his networking business.
He and the 20-year-old finally met the next month.
On June 13, Cabañog officially joined Oberes’s networking business.
Diana said she received a message from Oberes last July 6, which she believed was not meant for her because the latter used another term of endearment.
When another message was wrongly sent to her, she confronted Cabañog and asked the latter if she was sleeping with her husband. Cabañog denied being his mistress.
Diana said she and Oberes met Cabañog at a wedding last July 13 and then at the anniversary of her husband’s networking company last July 22.
When Diana confirmed her husband’s affair with Cabañog, she and her mother-in-law went to Cabañog’s house last Nov. 14 to ask her to stop seeing Oberes.
Cabañog, Diana said, continued to deny having a relationship with him.
Diana said Oberes and Cabañog’s began seeing each other in July before parting ways last December.
After the relationship ended, Oberes told Diana that the Cabañogs owed him and that they promised to pay him as soon as the lending firm would release their loan.
Diana said they waited, but they never received payment.
According to Padilla, Garciano contacted Oberes and told the latter to stay away from Cabañog.
“Mao ni statement ni Kuya Mark towards Joshua, ‘Ayaw sige’g pahaba sa akoa kay ang akoa maningil ra ko sa P50,000’,” said Padilla.
Later on, Garciano also texted Diana.
Diana said that her husband told her that Edna has a gun after learning about it from Cabañog.
As to Cabañog and Garciano’s willingness to become state witnesses, the Oberes family will just wait for the investigation because they have basis that the two were involved in the crime.
A murder complaint was filed against Cabañog, Garciano, Edna and three other suspects before the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office last Friday.