DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 June)—Almost three weeks after the death of 28-year-old Architect Vlance Marie L. Bragas, a complaint for rape with homicide has been filed against four suspects in the rape-slay incident in Calinan last May 17.
Maj. Neil M. Vistar, Calinan Police Station commander, speaks during a press conference on the Bragas rape-slay case at the Davao City Police office Monday evening (5 June 2023). MindaNews photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV
This was announced by Col. Albert Lupaz, director of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) who is also commander of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) “Bragas,” in a press conference Monday evening.
The suspects were identified as Dennis Roy P. Panzan, Kent Laurence Metegreto Espinosa, Renato Ali Bayansao, and one John Doe.
Panzan and Espinosa were reportedly missing after they were allegedly taken by unidentified individuals last May 27. However, a severely injured Panzan was rescued in Matina Pangi at 8:05 a.m. of May 29 but died an hour later at the Davao Adventist Hospital.
Lupaz added that there is a separate investigation undertaken by the police to look into the circumstances around the alleged “kidnapping” of these two suspects, which resulted in the death of Panzan.
Meanwhile, Bayansao, the driver of the Ombak (similar to a tricycle that is sometimes called Bao-bao, the yellow vehicle that Bragas hailed and boarded), is under the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Davao after he was apprehended during a drug buy-bust operation last May 28 at Purok 8 in Calinan.
Maj. Neil M. Vistar, station commander of Calinan Police Station, added that their two witnesses testified that they had seen the suspects assaulting Bragas.
He said that Bragas boarded the Ombak at 10:39 p.m. of May 16 at Crossing Fausta. But shortly after the victim alighted at Megaville St., Panzan punched her in the face while an unidentified suspect hit her in the stomach about 50 meters away from her residence, Vistar said.
After Bragas passed out, Vistar said the suspects carried her back to the motor vehicle and sped away.
Panzan, who ran a meat shop near where the assault happened, was a neighbor of the Bragas family.
From left: NBI-Davao director Atty. Arcelito Albao, DCPO director Col. Alberto P. Lupaz, and DCPO legal officer Capt. Lean A. Marquez during a press conference on the Bragas rape-slay case at the Davao City Police office Monday evening (5 June 2023).MindaNews photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV
Vistar believed that the suspects raped and killed Bragas at the place where her cadaver was found in a banana plantation in Calinan hours after she went missing.
He said the plantation was just about three kilometers away from the place where Bragas was forcibly taken.
The result of the autopsy examination conducted on the cadaver showed that the cause of death was “asphyxia by manual strangulation.”
The examination also found “recent genital trauma,” which confirmed that the victim was raped. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
