THE PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) yesterday filed before the Department of Justice two counts of murder against five suspects in the killing of beauty pageant contestant Geneva Lopez and her Israeli boyfriend last June.
“We actually filed the complaint for murder, two counts…And the complaint has been docketed already,” Col. Thomas Valmonte, chief of the CIDG Legal Division, told reporters in an interview.
“And there are respondents, five respondents, that are impleaded in the complaint,” added Valmonte. He, however, declined to identify the five.
Lopez and her boyfriend, Israeli Yitzhak Cohen, went to Capas, Tarlac last June 12. Their remains were found buried at a quarry site in the same town nearly a month later.
The driver of the vehicle used to bring the victims to the burial site surrendered and implicated two former policemen, Michael Guiang and Rommel Abuso.
Guiang and Abuso were arrested, along with another suspect. Two others surrendered, including the driver. Authorities have earlier said two other suspects were at large.
Last month, CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Leo Francisco said a land dispute led to the killing of Lopez and Cohen.
Francisco said Guiang pawned a parcel of land to Lopez, which the beauty pageant contestant wanted to seize. Guiang refused and told Lopez that Abuso wanted to buy the property.
The two sides met in Barangay Armenia in Capas, where the two policemen reportedly shot the victims dead.
“The motive that we saw was land (dispute),” said Valmonte.
“They (suspects) had a meeting, that’s why there’s an allegation of conspiracy. They met and planned the killing of the two victims,” said Valmonte.
Valmonte said two of the suspects shot the victims, and another helped in the disposal of the remains.
The others, he said, were involved in planning the killing of the victims, the reason why they were included in the complaint.
