DOJ eyes Interpol help if Generoso slay suspects flee PH

FILE: Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — The Department of Justice (DOJ) may possibly seek assistance from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) if the suspects in the killing of Dumaguete broadcaster Mercedario “Dindo” Generoso manage to flee the country.

“All suspects who are still at large (are in the immigration’s watchlist). I gave instructions to the OCP (Office of the City Prosecutor-Dumaguete) regarding the Precautionary Hold Departure Order (PHDO) yesterday (Monday), but the Bureau of Immigration was alerted last week,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters Tuesday.

“It depends if he manages to slip past,” Guevarra added when asked whether they will be seeking Interpol assistance on the case.

On Monday, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said the latest Immigration Look-out Bulletin Order (ILBO) was against Tomasino Aledro, one of the four suspects in the murder of Generoso, had already been issued,

Aledro was included in the BI’s look-out list, as directed by Guevarra, following the filing of murder charges against the alleged suspects in the killing of Generoso, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.

Andanar said the look-out order is effective since November 8.

“I immediately requested Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, our PTFoMS chair, to direct the Bureau of Immigration to issue a Look-Out Bulletin Order.

Aledro was placed on the list since Friday, November 8,” said Andanar, co-chair of the PTFoMS, in a statement sent to reporters late Monday night.

It was also on November 8 when the murder case was lodged against Aledro, Teddy Salaw, retired police officer Glen Corsame, and active police officer Roger Rubio before the Dumaguete City prosecutor’s office for their supposed links to Generoso’s gruesome murder. Aledro is the alleged owner of the Mitsubishi Strada pick-up truck reportedly driven by Salaw on the day Generoso was killed.

The pick-up truck, which was seen abandoned in Balabag village in Valencia, Negros Oriental, was supposedly used for Rubio’s transfer to a waiting motorcycle driven by Corsame on November 7. The motorcycle tailed the Hyundai Elantra of Generoso who died after being shot several times by Rubio.

PTFoMs co-chairperson, Undersecretary Joel Egco raised the possibility that Aledro might leave the country, as alleged “financier” of illegal numbers game, Suertres, and has a role in “illegal gambling operations in his native province”. He (Aledro) can use his financial resources to get out of the country,” Egco said.

Guevarra said he has already directed Dumaguete City inquest prosecutor Oscar Bokingkito to apply “as soon as possible” for a precautionary hold departure order against the suspects who remain scot-free.

A hold departure order prevents an individual from leaving the country.

A judge of any regional trial court before whom a criminal case is pending must issue an order directing the BI to hold the departure of any accused who is still at large.

The case may be referred to the DOJ by applying for an ILBO, should the case not fall on a hold departure order. Salaw and Corsame were arrested on the same day Generoso was shot to death on November 7.

Generoso, who worked at dyEM FM Bai Radio, served as an anchor for development programs of the local government, including a controversial reclamation project that was recently stopped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.