Napoleon Merida Jr., chairperson of the Panaw Sumilao Multi-purpose Cooperative, said a police investigator in Sumilao had told them it is still possible to reopen the case if the family can present a new witness.
“That’s a problem because we have no new witness. We also think that it’s the job of the police, not us the victims,” Merida stressed.
Peñas and Merida were among the participants on Thursday of the Community-based Dialogue Sessions on Human Rights Promotion and Protection of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and civil society organizations in Bukidnon.
Supt. Erwin Bayani Meneses, Bukidnon deputy provincial police director for operations, told MindaNews they are now in contact with the family for a possible reinvestigation.
He admitted that although it can help that the family can present additional evidence, it is not obligatory for them to do it before a case can be reinvestigated.
Merida said the case was closed when witness Samson Dollete retracted his affidavit.
“By that point, the police should have reinvestigated the case,” he added.
Dollete, one of the two witnesses who recanted his statement, has since died due to an illness.[]
Peñas and his two companions were ambushed in Barangay San Vicente, Sumilao midnight on June 5, 2009. His companions survived the attack, which took place some 200 meters away from the house of Alipio Tumangday, one of the three suspects.
Tumangday was arrested the following day, after Dollete, one of the survivors of the attack, identified him in an affidavit as one of the suspects.
The two other suspects have remained in hiding.
A fact-finding mission led by Balaod Mindanaw in July 2009 recommended that a full-blown multi-agency investigation be conducted “in order to explore other possible angles and motives for the killing.[]
