Wednesday, August 19, 1997  

Witness to Chiong......... abduction says he saw.
Jacqueline handcuffs in van
Vice Mayor Osmeña to ask Camp Crame to authorize Lacson task force to help solve Chiong case

by OSCAR C. PINEDA   
       SUN.STAR Staff Reporter  

     A POTENTIAL witness to the abduction of the Chiong sisters visited the Cebu city police chief yesterday to say he saw the white van which was allegedly used to pick up the girls.

     A pair of handcuffs was attached to the gear stick, said the conductor.

     If he's correct, his statement would shoot down a mechanic and driver's claim that the van was being repaired on the night the Chiong sisters disappeared. 

     However, the man said he did not see the mechanic and the driver who were earlier picked up for questioning in connection with the case.  

     Cebu City Police Chief Antonio Enteria Jr. ordered the man's statement checked. His identity was withheld.

     It's been more than a month since Jackie Chiong was last seen. The body of her sister Marijoy, who had a handcuff around one wrist, was found at the foot of a cliff in Carcar. Their case sparked an indignation rally last Friday against crime.

     Cebu City Vice Mayor Renato Osmeña yesterday said he will write Camp Crame and ask that the anti-kidnapping group led by Chief Supt. Panfilo Lacson help solve the Chiong case.

      Osmeña, who heads the Police Coordinating and Advisory Council, said the Chiong family has accepted Lacson's offer to help them.

     While stressing he does not belittle what local police officers can do, Osmeña said: "Experience counts a lot."

     Osmeña said the police have "very strong suspects" and that both he and Mayor Alvin Garcia have been receiving calls as to the whereabouts of Jacqueline Chiong.

     City officials dispatched policemen to Talisay town yesterday after receiving reports of foul odor in the area, but the authorities found only decaying carcasses of chicken. (This is the second time authorities have found chickens in that town while chasing leads in the Chiong case.)

     Nevertheless, Osmeña said he requested the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes to send personnel to further check the area. 

CALLS
     Garcia said he also received a separate call yesterday morning that a body was found in Barili town, and that he asked outgoing Regional Police Director Ramsey Ocampo to check this information. 

     Mayor Garcia said some assistance from Lacson's task force should not be taken as competition by the local police.  

     Special Project Alpha, based in Camp Crame, also includes Chief Supts. Jewel Canson, Romeo Acop and Sr. Supt. Francisco Zubia.

     In Cebu, Enteria has asked Task Force Chiong to verify some of the potential witness' claims by checking with the owner of a machine shop.

     Homicide chief Florencio Diaz refused to comment  on the new "witness" and directed all inquiries to Sr. Supt. Fritz Quiñanola, Task Force Chiong director.

Comments: Here is the beginning of the "drama" the police is starting to script. They mention that their "witness" has seen a pair of handcuffs attached to the gear stick of the van. They must have presumed that since the body of the girl found in the cliff had a pair of handcuffs, the other girl must have also her own pair. 

     However, in the final script, there was only one pair of handcuffs used and both sisters were handcuffed together with it. And this pair came from one of the cars, as "testified" by the star witness, and not from the van, as what the police was earlier trying to peddle.