KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 20 March) – After seven years in hiding, a policeman accused of killing in 2006 a Filipino-Chinese trader surrendered to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in North Cotabato Wednesday afternoon, but insisted he is innocent.
SPO2 Ignacio Rinsulat of the Kidapawan City Police, along with two others, were accused of killing Roger Ong, owner of Master Marketing, one of the largest construction supply stores in North Cotabato. Two of the accused-turned-witnesses named Rinsulat and two other policemen as behind the killing, reports said.
Rinsulat, 62, has retired from service.
The killing, based on the statements issued in 2006 by witnesses Reynaldo Camus and Roland Gabais, was allegedly masterminded by a certain Robert Ong who, just like the slain Ong, is a Filipino-Chinese businessman who owns a chain of hardware stores in Kidapawan City and in other areas in North Cotabato.
The other two policemen accused in the killing were identified as SPO1 Rene Mamburam and PO3 Edwin Pacana, both from the Kidapawan PNP.
They were arrested in 2007.
Rinsulat said he surrendered to CIDG to clear his name. although it took him seven years before he came to a decision. The process he went through, he said, was “painful.”
He said it was difficult for him to surrender to a crime he did not commit.
The warrant for the arrest of Rinsulat and six other murder suspects were issued on December 11, 2006 by Judge Rogelio Naresma of the Regional Trial Court branch 23.
Based on the court order, there is no bail bond recommended for all of the accused.
However, three years after Mamburam and Pacana were arrested, they were able to post bail and were released later from the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), according to reports from the CIDG.
Rinsulat, according to Sr. Insp. Rodel Calo, CIDG provincial chief, would be turned over to the court for his commitment to the BJMP on Thursday. (Malu Cadelina Manar / MindaNews)