PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 27 October) — A case of murder was filed Thursday at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in this province against the alleged mastermind behind the killing of retired Army Colonel and former Philsaga Mining Company (PMC) president Samuel Afdal, exactly two years ago.
Evelyn, Afdal’s widow, personally submitted the complaint against Ryan Baylon, the victim’s business partner, at the office of Provincial Prosecutor Ceferino Dino Paredes.
“I am relieved now. I can’t express my emotions any further, otherwise, I’ll break down,” the widow said during an interview outside the Prosecutor’s Office.
Paredes said that in an affidavit sworn before him at the Provincial Jail with the assistance of a lawyer, Jeffrey Mamerto, the alleged gunman, confessed his involvement in the killing and tagged Baylon as the mastermind.
Mindanews tried to contact Baylon at JB Earthmovers Inc. at two mobile numbers but the calls were unsuccessful.
Evelyn Afdal, widow of slain retired Army colonel Samuel Afdal, shows the murder complaint against the alleged mastermind of the killing of her husband, at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. MindaNews photo by CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN
In the seven-page complaint, Mamerto also implicated two others as co-conspirators in the killing, namely Rosalino B. Degracia (alias “Okie”) and Alemar Awado (alias “Dongkoy”). He claimed that Baylon had induced them to ambush Afdal in exchange for a sum of money.
Afdal was killed in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Rosario town while driving his Jimmy car uphill to an area where he had a mining prospect. Despite being wounded, the victim managed to drive his vehicle from the ambush site to the compound of Rosario Manobo Mining Corp. to seek medical assistance. From there, he was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
A day later, Mamerto was apprehended by soldiers from the 75th Infantry Battalion and turned over to the Rosario Municipal Police Station after he confessed to his alleged involvement in Afdal’s killing.
The retired Army colonel succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Davao City on November 15, 2021, which coincided with Mamerto’s scheduled trial this year at the Regional Trial Court Branch 6 at the Provincial Capitol.
With this development, Paredes said Mamerto could potentially become a state witness, depending on his willingness to cooperate with the prosecution. He, however, emphasized that becoming a state witness has to meet certain requirements.
Evelyn’s lawyer, Rommel Fontanilla, asserted that even with the case pending, it can proceed independently.
In the complaint, Baylon was described as Afdal’s business partner, who appeared at the SBF drilling company compound in the village of Bayugan 3 in Rosario town just hours before the ambush.
Baylon serves as the president of JB Earthmovers Inc., a construction firm based in San Francisco town, in which Afdal held a stockholder’s stake of at least 50 percent.
However, the shares, valued at approximately P60 million by Afdal, were allegedly divested and erased, prompting his family to file an estafa case against Baylon and the company’s corporate secretary, Rosalyn Matutina.
In a statement, the Afdal family said they are heartened by “the recent developments in our search for justice for the attack against him on October 26, 2021, in Rosario, Agusan del Sur.”
“…We are seeing a glimmer of hope that justice would soon be served. In a major breakthrough in the case, the gunman had confessed to helping organize and carry out the kill plot upon the inducement of financial reward.
“The gunman further pointed to three more co-conspirators, one of whom he named as the mastermind, in a courageous act of letting the truth come out,” the statement said. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)
