CABANATUAN CITY – Police filed Wednesday murder charges against the brother –inlaw of the employer of a female overseas Filipino worker whose head was found inside a transparent plastic bag and dumped along an irrigation canal at Sitio Saint Joseph, Barangay San Fernando Sur, Cabiao town.
Charged before the provincial prosecutor’s office here was Elceo Valdez of Barangay Lourdes, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, brother-inlaw of Dennis Samson, the employer of victim Maribel Alpas, 30, a native of Hinoba-An, Negros Occiental.
A John Doe was also charged as accomplice to the crime. Senior Supt. Crizaldo Nieves, Nueva Ecija police director, said Alpas’ identity was established though the personal belongings found near her head last March 25.
Cabiao police chief, Chief Insp. Eric de Venancio, said that the mayor of Hinoba-An has put up a reward for information that would lead to the recovery of Alpas’ body. De Venancio said they are looking into two possible motives for the murder of Alpas but refused to reveal them so as not to preempt the investigation.
Initial investigation showed that at around 10:30 p.m. on March 20 – five days before Alpas’ head was found – Valdez and another suspect picked her up aboard a multicab at a Shell gas station in Lourdes as shown in its CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage.
The next day at around 6 a.m., the two were seen by one of the witnesses at Sitio Dumanas onboard the same vehicle with a blue pail at the back believed to be used in the said incident. Alpas’ mother told police that her daughter was instructed by Samson, who is based in the United Kingdom, to pick-up some vital documents accompanied by Valdez before her forthcoming trip abroad.
