Panglao rape slay gains prominence

Case gains prominence since victim is the mayor's cousin

The celebrated Dumaluan rape-murder case has taken an exciting twist after the policeman who investigated the case revealed that the accused now under detention is not the only perpetrator. SPO1 Dominie Ragusta made the revelation in an affidavit dated Oct. 24, 2006 which was subscribed and sworn to before lawyer Venzencio Arcamo who is also a town councilor of Panglao. Ragusta, who is presently with the Dauis PNP, declared in his affidavit that he was assigned with the PNP in Panglao from 1999 to July 2004.

During his assignment in Panglao, the policeman said he was tasked to investigate a rape with homicide case involving one Vivian Dumaluan who was raped and murdered in Bolod, Panglao. “As the officer who conducted the investigation, I was the one who gathered the evidence and followed up the leads in order to solve the case,” Ragusta added. The policeman revealed that after he gathered the evidence and followed up the leads pertaining to the case, he submitted an investigation report dated May 31, 2004 where he concluded that the perpetrator was one Narciso Maghamil alias “Isot”.        “However, based on the evidence gathered it would show that the perpetrator is not only one person but it would appear that the present accused has companion or companions who are not presently identified,” the cop declared in his affidavit.

Ragusta's revelation has opened the lid on the possibility that Maghamil, who is presently under detention, was not the only suspect in the case. Last Oct. 1, 2004, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Macario Delusa came out with a resolution denying the motion for reinvestigation filed by Maghamil's counsel on the rape with homicide case docketed as criminal case no. 04-2488. In his resolution, Delusa disregarded Maghamil's counter-affidavit and affidavit of witnesses because the same “if admitted would not probably change the existence of probable cause of the crime charged”.

Included in Maghamil's motion for re-investigation were the affidavits of Mayor Doloreich Dumaluan and his brother Teofilo Jr. In their affidavits, the victim's parents Eusebio and Antonia said they were already living in Lunotan, Gingoog City but their daughter returned to Libaong to study at the Biking High School in Dauis town. The couple said they learned that their daughter worked as a nanny for the mayor's younger brother.

In their affidavits, the victim's parents described her as a good daughter. “She worked as a yaya of the children of Pingmay Dumaluan because they had an agreement that they will be the one to send her to fourth year in the next school opening,” they added. The couple said their daughter was only trying to lessen their expenses for the family since they had eight children.

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