THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday committed to file criminal charges against suspects in the July 2020 assassination of retired police general and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga next month.
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin made the commitment in the course of the 14th meeting of the House Quad Comm that is investigating illegal drugs, Philippine offshore gaming operations and extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.
“For the NBI we are already wrapping up or we are concluding the investigation on the Barayuga murder and in about three weeks time we shall be filing our cases against those involved. We are only awaiting for the results of the forensic examination on the gadgets turned over by the wife of the victim Atty. Barayuga…. this was turned over to our agent in Iloilo, Atty. Arnold Diaz and he applied for warrants to examine the contents of the gadgets. These gadgets were brought to our main office for the examination and we should be ready with our reports in about two three weeks time your honor,” said Lavin when asked by Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, senior vice chairman of the Quad Comm.
Acop then asked for clarification, “In three weeks time cases will be filed, did I understand your answer correctly?”
Lavin replied in the affirmative.
It was the House mega panel that cracked the Barayuga assassination case in September when Police Lt. Col. Santi Mendoza testified about the details behind the ambush-slaying of the late PCSO board secretary on July 30, 2020, not far from the PCSO office in Mandaluyong City.