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All witnesses to slay of UST
student in hiding, say
cops
By
Jerome Aning
Inquirer News Service
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2001)
MANILA police
yesterday said they have reached a standstill in their investigation
of the killing of University of Sto. Tomas student Mark Chua because
no witnesses have come forward.
The
investigators made the admission even as Chua’s family insisted that
he was killed because of his exposé of alleged corruption in the
school’s Reserve Officers Training Corps.
"It’s difficult
to establish a link between the kidnap-slaying and the exposé
because all our possible witnesses have gone into hiding," Western
Police District homicide section head Chief Insp. Juanito Taluban
told the Inquirer.
Taluban said
the only hope of the investigators is Romulo Yumul, Chua’s classmate
at the UST College of Engineering who they said could provide
details about the death threats that the two of them received when
they filed their complaint against officials of the UST
ROTC.
Investigators
from the WPD said they hope to build a case by establishing, through
Yumul’s testimony, that the death threats he and Chua received had
led to Chua’s abduction and murder.
Investigators
led by SPO3 Steve Casimiro said they have learned many details
surrounding Chua’s disappearance on March 15, including efforts by
the suspects to make the Chua family believe that he was
kidnapped.
But the details
could not identify the suspects, Taluban said.
He added that
among the possible witnesses are those who saw the people who
abducted Chua and those who threw his body into the Pasig River,
where it was found on March 18.
Chua’s father
has accused ROTC officials, who were sacked because of his son’s and
Yumul’s revelations, as the brains behind the abduction and the
killing. But Taluban said the city prosecutor would not appreciate
all the evidence they have at present.
"The WPD will
be in hot water if it joins in accusing the dismissed ROTC officials
of complicity in the case without strong evidence," Taluban said.
"They can sue us for destroying their reputation and
honor."
Police learned
that Yumul and some of the students interviewed by the UST newspaper
The Varsitarian about the alleged anomalies in the ROTC were excused
by the school authorities from taking the final examinations or were
allowed to go on vacation.
Last December,
Chua and Yumul accused officials of the Department of Military
Science and Tactics, which is in charge of the ROTC, of accepting
bribes and extorting money from cadets.
The complaint
was filed with the Department of National Defense’s Regional
Community Defense Group, which conducted a month-long investigation
and ordered the relief of the UST ROTC commandant, Maj. Demy
Tejares, and other officials. | 
Thu. Mar. 29, 2001, Philippines 
All witnesses to slay of UST student in hiding, say cops