ANOTHER CAR TRADER MURDERED, BURNED
[PHOTO taken from Facebook shows car trader Venson Evangelista with his cars at the family garage. Inset shows police sketches of the man posing as the buyer of Evangelista's vehicle and the mechanic who accompanied him. MANILA, Philippines]
MANILA, JANUARY 18, 2011 (STAR) By Jerry Botial and Cecille Suerte Felipe - The charred body found last Jan. 14 in Nueva Ecija was confirmed yesterday to be that of Venson Evangelista, another car dealer who went missing after meeting a prospective buyer in Cubao, Quezon City.
His father Arsenio identified Evangelista's remains through dental records provided by his family.
Arsenio said he went to Nueva Ecija after receiving reports that a burned body was found in Barangay Bularin beside an irrigation canal.
He said he initially failed to identify the body at the funeral parlor since it was burned beyond recognition.
Arsenio and his family were still in denial up to the time the scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) were conducting the examination.
But reality hit hard when they identified the belt Venson was wearing that was found on the cadaver.
"As a father, I don't feel that the body is my son's," he said.
Evangelista reported the disappearance of his son last Jan. 12 after accompanying on a test drive a cross-dressing man and a companion acting as a mechanic, who expressed interest in buying a Toyota Land Cruiser (license plate NAI-316).
Police investigators are now looking at the possibility that the same group perpetrated the killings of the young Evangelista and Emerson Lozano, son of Marcos loyalist Oliver.
Despite the absence of evidence to link the killings of the two car dealers, investigators said the manner the victims were executed by shots to the head and burned using kerosene may be more than sheer coincidence.
Because of these new developments, Quezon City Police District director Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele has proposed to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo that the two special investigation task groups be merged to focus on the two cases.
The "re-configurated" group" will also be joined by the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) in Camp Crame, who will look into the abduction angle of both cases.
Both victims accompanied their supposed buyers when they were killed and dumped in provinces in Central Luzon, believed to be the lair of notorious car thieves.
"What is striking in the case in Nueva Ecija was that the victim was shot to the head and burned with kerosene and tires," Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, director of the task group on Lozano, pointed out.
Estipona also revealed that an anonymous donor has offered P500,000 reward for the immediate arrest of the killers of Lozano.
Estipona also noted that they have a witness who managed to give precise description of the two persons last seen with Evangelista.
Lozano has two witnesses
Meanwhile, Lozano revealed yesterday that two witnesses to the killing of his son have already surfaced and are now in the hands of authorities.
"Because of your help, there are witnesses who were convinced by my appeal (in the media). They contacted me and I already referred them to CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group)," he told reporters at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He refused to reveal more details about the two witnesses so as not to jeopardize ongoing investigation and possible operations of authorities to hunt down the killers of his son.
Lozano met with DOJ officials led by Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III to personally thank them for initiating a parallel probe on the killing by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
He was hopeful there would be developments in the investigation with the NBI probe.
Still, he maintained his belief that the killing of his son was a case of "mistaken identity" despite pronouncement of the PNP that their probe was looking at carjacking as a possible angle.
"Based on the brutality of the killing, it is contrary to human experience to believe that it is a carnapping case," Lozano said. "If the culprit were targeting the car, I don't think they had to kill him and burn his body. It's ridiculous."
He said he would respect the outcome of investigations of authorities.
The lawyer lamented that his son was not a criminal and was just selling secondhand vehicles for extra income.
He urged the culprits to just surrender and even vowed to ensure that their human rights and due process in the case would be observed.
Another case in Bulacan
In a related story, four carjackers pretending to buy a sport utility vehicle (SUV) in Bulacan forcibly took it and brought along with them the owner, her children and a relative and later dumped them in Tarlac, according to local police.
A belated report reaching Camp Olivas in Pampanga, stated that four unidentified men went to the house of Monica Atienza, 32, in Barangay Sto. Nino, Hagonoy, Bulacan in the afternoon of Jan. 12 and inquired about the Isuzu Altera (ZHH-889) that she posted for sale on the Internet.
After a brief negotiation, two of the unidentified men requested for a test drive. Atienza agreed on the condition that she, together with her two children, identified as Mark Joshua, 7, and Irish Camille, 6, and her relative Carol Lugi, 60, will also be on board.
Atienza, her two children and Lugi failed to return to their house, prompting her sister, a certain Ana Maria Sayas, to alert the authorities.
Sayas told police that their cell phones could not be contacted.
According to witnesses, the suspects were on board a blue Honda Civic without plates.
The victims were later found gagged and tied in Victoria, Tarlac.
Car dealers warned
The PNP called on car dealers to observe measures to avoid being victimized by criminal groups.
Highway Patrol Group (HPG) director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Evangelista advised car dealers not to entertain evening test drives and always do the test drive with companions.
"We advise car dealers to always be with a companion during test drives, require an authentic identification card from the buyer, do the test drive only in places they are familiar with, and avoid evening test drives," Espina said, adding that car traders must be careful in allowing test drives.
He expressed belief that the suspects used the test drive as a modus operandi to bait the car dealers to allow them to take the car. – With Edu Punay, Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu, Manny Galvez
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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