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Continuation
of the Affidavit of former NBI Director
for Region 7 Atty. Florencio O. Villarin subscribed and sworn
before Notary Public Rolando A. Navarro in Cebu City on February
27, 6. Significantly, all the above cases were re-assigned to me by the NBI Director after the first NBI agents assigned to investigate said cases and the then Philippine Constabulary and police investigators, who took part in the investigation, could not make any progress in their investigation; 7. In the case of Aida Montecillo, who was gang-raped by a group of drug addicts, I was able to establish with strong and convincing evidence the innocence of Democrito Mendoza, Jr., who was facing the death penalty by musketry, and based on the evidence gathered I was able to file charges against the real culprits, namely: Romulo Sungahid, et al. before the military authorities as the country was then under martial law, for which I was commended in writing by then Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos, who later became a Justice of the Supreme, for saving the life of an innocent person and for my "expertise and professionalized performance in sleuthing and following up the clues leading to the identity of the real perpetrators of the crime"; in another case assigned to me upon the request of then Sandiganbayan Justice Romeo Escareal, I wasl also commended in writing by Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos "for a display of competence and industry rare among public servants", photocopies said commendations are attached as Annexes "A" and "B" hereof; 8. I was also awarded a plaque of recognition by the Kiwanis Club of Manila for "exemplary bravery" demonstrated in a gunfight in mid-air against heavily armed holduppers when a PAL plane enroute from Mactan to Manila was hijacked in 1968 and for the gunshot wounds I sustained after killing one of them in my effort to protect the passengers. A photocopy of said award is also attached as Annex "C"; 9. I was also a recipient of commendations from the Ambassador of the British government for our splendid assistance to DCI Glenn Gilbertson and his colleagues of the London Metropolitan Police and from the FBI for the effective assistance we extended to FBI Agents William K. West and Jerrold Bamel who were investigating the activities and contacts of Terry Nichols, married to a Filipino and a principal suspect in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, which resulted in 167 deaths and the wounding of over 500 victims; 10. I was the Special Investigator of the Agrava Fact-Finding Board that investigated the assassination of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino in 1983; 11. I represented the Philippine government in the 7th Conference on organized crime in the Asian region which was held in Tokyo, Japan in 1995 and attended by senior officials of all law enforcement agencies in the region, including law enforcement officials from the US and Canada; 12. I was appointed by former President Corazon Aquino in 1990 as the NBI Regional Director for Central Visayas and I held this position for almost ten (10) years, from 1990 until 1999, when I retired from the government service; 13. As NBI Regional Director for central Visayas, I investigated major crimes and it was our office that first investigated the disappearance of Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong upon the request of their-parents, Mrs. Thelma Chiong and Dionisio Chiong, on July 18, 1997; 14. Considering the serious nature of the crime committed, I closely supervised the investigation of this case, which I assigned to a team of agents under Supervising Agent Romulo Manapsal, and I personally interviewed Mrs. Thelma Chiong in the presence of her husband to get the facts surrounding the disappearance of their daughters; - Page 3 - 15. From her statement during the interview, we learned that their daughters, Jacquiline, working at the Ayala Center, and her sister Marijoy, who were last seen alive leaving the Global Village, the employer of Jacquiline, by witnesses, among them was Sheila Singson, a co-worker, were missing. 16. In cases of this nature, it is a matter of course for a criminal investigator to ask the complainant, Mrs. Chiong in this case, basic questions, such as the names of boy friends or suitors, if any, witnesses and close friends of the persons reported missing so that they could be interviewed to provide us with more vital information to help us locate Jacquiline and Marijoy; 17. And during the interview, Mrs. Chiong disclosed to us a certain Mutya from Tacloban City but residing in Labangon, Cebu City, as the only one courting Jacquiline or Marijoy but she never mentioned to us the name of Francisco Larraņaga as one of those courting any of her daughters, and neither did she mention the names of the other accused in this case; 18. Sheila Singson was also interviewed but, like Mrs. Chiong, she never mentioned to us the name of Francisco Larraņaga and the names of the other accused in this case. Ms. Singson, however, alleged that she saw somebody who appeared suspicious passing by the Global Village, where she and Jacquiline worked, on the evening of the victims' disappearance; hence, a cartographic sketch was drawn by our artist based the description she furnished us but said sketch was not clear; 19. A few days after the body of Marijoy was found dead in a deep ravine in Tanauan, Carcar, Cebu, the police which was also investigating this case, came up with a theory that the victims were abducted and subsequently murdered by hired killers because their father, Dionesio Chiong who managed the Infinity KTV, allegedly misused a large amount of money of the company. 20. Following the discovery of the dead body of Marijoy, we proceeded to Tanauan, Carcar, hoping to find and interview witnesses who could provide us with some information, and right there we interviewed some witnesses and one of them, though initially reluctant to give in any statement, finally informed us that it was very early in the morning, between 3:30 AM and 4:00 AM of July 17, 1997, that she heard a group of persons shouting, singing and dancing on the road near the place where the dead boy of Marijoy was later found; 21. With this vital information, we believed that Marijoy, whose dead body was already recovered, was not slain by hired killers because no hired killers, to our knowledge and in our own experience, would be shouting, dancing and singing the dead of the night before or after killing their victims, thus the NBI ruled out the first theory of the police, and our theory of the case emerged that Jacquiline and Marijoy were victims of drug addicts frequenting the Ayala Business Center; 22. With this new theory of the NBI, requested on July 25, 1997, or barely a week after the dead body of Marijoy was discovered, Supt. Antonio Enteria, then Police Director of the Cebu City Police, during our conference of the Police Advisory and Coordinating Council of the office of the City Mayor of which I was a member with Vice-City Mayor Renato Osmeņa as the Chairman, to furnish the NBI a list of drug addicts frequenting Ayala Business Center from their own files for the purpose of collating with the names of drug users appearing in our own records in order to establish the real perpetrators of this heinous crime. (NOTE:
1. RED COLOR OURS FOR EMPHASIS.
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