Law enforcement authorities of Task Force Enigma in Negros Oriental have arrested and filed charges against a suspect in the June 24 shooting of lawyer Victoriano Alabastro, first councilor of the Bayawan City.
Alabastro sustained minor gunshot wounds in his belly, as armed men opened fire at his car as he was getting ready to leave the Negros Oriental State University Bayawan-Sta. Catalina campus, where he is a part time teacher.
The suspected gun-for-hire was identified as Alan Carcuevas, a resident of Mabinay, Negros Oriental, who was arrested last July 13 by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Candelario Gonzalez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 45 in Bais City.
During a press conference Friday with Task Force Enigma members, Sr. Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, provincial police director of Negros Oriental, disclosed that Carcuevas is also believed to be involved in a series of robbery/hold-up incidents in the province and is suspected to be a gun-for-hire.
Lawas, however, stressed that Task Force Enigma has yet to establish the possible participation of Carcuevas in the attempt on Alabastro’s life. The suspect denied having a hand in any of the two attacks on Alabastro, the first one sometime in December 2010 and the second one last June 24.
Carcuevas, who denied any involvement in Alabastro’s shooting, was charged on Thursday before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office with two separate complaints for illegal possession of firearms and for illegal possession of an explosive.
Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and intelligence operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation, during a raid at Carcuevas’ residence, confiscated a .45 caliber handgun, a .357 revolver and a hand grenade.
The court has not recommended bail for the temporary liberty of Carcuevas in relation to the complaint for illegal possession of an explosive.
Carcuevas told reporters on Friday that he owns the .45 caliber pistol but denied ownership of the hand grenade and the .357 revolver.
Meanwhile, Task Force Enigma still has not established the motive or the mastermind in the shooting of Alabastro, said Sr. Supt. Lawas.
Alabastro, however, is cooperating with authorities on any information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects.
Task Force Enigma is composed of the Negros Oriental PNP, the NBI, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the PNP Crime Laboratory, specifically to investigate the Alabastro case in Bayawan. (PNA) JFP