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CEBU CITY, Philippines – A criminal complaint of murder was filed on Tuesday against three men before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office for the death of a British national on June 24 in Minglanilla town, southern Cebu.
Jude Dayota of Barangay (village) Inayawan, Cebu City, was accused of shooting to death Luke Isaacs, 42, in Barangay Lipata, Minglanilla town. He was with two other men on board a motorcycle.
The two men, although still at large and unidentified, were included in the complaint.
Three witnesses pointed to Dayota as having immediately clambered on board a waiting motorcycle with two other men after shooting Isaacs.
The police said that his wife, Riza, reported that while she and her husband were walking along the national road in Barangay Lipata, three men on board a motorcycle tried to grab her husband's bag.
She told them that one of them shot her husband when he resisted.
However, the Minglanilla police said they believed that Riza connived with Dayota in killing her husband.
Dayota was a former live-in partner of Riza. They have two children who are under the care of Riza and Isaacs.
In the affidavits of Senior Inspector Romeo Santander, Minglanilla police chief, and investigating officer Ernesto Navales, said they doubted Riza's innocence when she refused to let them view the messages and call records on the cellphone of her husband.
The police questioned Riza's claim that the assailants were robbers who tried to grab Isaac's bag, which contained P7,000 cash. She told the police that the robbers failed to run away with the bag.
One of the witnesses, Crisanto Arante, said he was on board a multicab when he saw Dayota shooting at a black foreigner.
The other witnesses, Christian Adlawan and Elgie Quirante, said they saw a man about 25 to 30 years old, 5'5 to 5'6 tall and wearing a black sweatshirt, clambering on board a waiting motorcycle ridden by two other men.
The man was later identified as Dayota.
The police also questioned why the witnesses were able to fully described Dayota while Riza, who was supposed to be nearer the accused, failed to identify him, considering their relationship.
Police investigation also showed that Dayota was hired by Isaacs to be Riza's personal driver.
Glenn Tabod, Dayota's counsel insisted that his client's arrest was illegal as the police did not have with them a warrant. He also said that Dayota was not arrested in a hot-pursuit operation.
But Senior Superintendent Carmelo Valmoria, provincial police director, said that Dayota's arrest was justified because it was a hot-pursuit operation conducted by the “Task Force Isaacs.” /With Correspondent Justin Anjuli K. Vestil
