ANGELES CITY – A resident of this city who is the lone state witness against carnap-murder suspects brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez said his client has a standing offer of P10 million for him to recant his testimonies against the two.
Lawyer Willie Rivera told Punto! that his client Alfred Mendiola, who was taken by the Department of Justice as state witness in the cases, has refused to take the bribe offer.
“For one thing, he would revert back to his status as suspect and get jailed if he did,” Rivera said. He did not provide details on who exactly offered the bribe and other details on it.
“His (Mendiola’s) life remains in danger. This was after he refused an offer of P10 million for him not to testify on the case,” Rivera said.
Mendiola was admitted to the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program last Feb. 7.
Rivera said Mendiola was approved as state witness after he “clinched the filing of the case against the principals.” He noted that without the testimony of Mendiola, “no other direct evidence was available for the prosecution to prove the elements of the crime.”
Rivera recalled that Mendiola merely posed as a buyer of Evangelista’s Toyota Land Cruiser and had least participation in Evangelista’s kidnap and murder later.
The RTC had also earlier issued subpoena to Katrina Paula, Julianne Alyssa Crisostomo, Rolando Talban and one alias “Joel” in connection with the case. Paula was later scrapped from the list of suspects.
Mendiola had also tagged a certain Anne as the companion of Roger Dominguez in paying P200,0000 for a new car plate and documents for the Land Cruiser stolen from Evangelista whose burnt body was recovered in Cabanatuan City.
Rivera said that the “circumstantial evidences” are “strong” against the Dominguez brothers.
The Dominguez brothers had pleaded not guilty during their arraignment before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 215.
The police are also looking into the involvement of the brothers in the carnap-murder case of Emerson Lozano and his driver Ernani Cencil whose burned bodies were found in Pampanga and Tarlac, respectively. In both the cases, the victims were supposed to sell second hand vehicles to alleged poseurs of the Dominguez brothers, but were later abducted and killed.
