Quirino grandson faces murder charge for trader’s slay

The Department of Justice has recommended the filing of murder and physical injuries charges against former presidential grandson Luisito Gonzales and his driver who were tagged in the killing of businessman Federico Delgado. Delgado, scion of shipping magnate Francisco Delgado, was killed on March 10 at his Manila apartment. His girlfriend, Analisa Pesico, survived the attack and positively identified Gonzales and his driver Antonio Buenaflor as their assailants. Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera reversed the earlier finding of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Cielitolindo Luyun, also City Prosecutor of Manila, which dismissed the complaints against Gonzales, grandson of the late President Elpidio Quirino, and Buenaflor. In an eight-page resolution, Devanadera gave weight on the positive identification of the accused by Pesico, saying that positive identification of a witness is more credible than the mere defense of denial and alibi raised by Delgado and Buenaflor. Such positive identification, she said, is enough to establish probable cause for the filing of criminal charges against them. "Well-settled is the principle that for alibi to prosper, it is not enough for the accused to prove that he was somewhere else when the crime committed but he must also prove that he could not have been physically present at the scene of the crime or its immediate vicinity at the time of its commission," she said. Gonzales earlier claimed that he was confined at the Makati Medical Center at the time of the killing. The hospital was just some five to 10 minutes away from Delgado's house. However, Devanadera pointed out that Gonzales failed to show convincing evidence to prove that it would be truly impossible for them to be at the crime scene. Luyun earlier gave credence to claim of the witnesses of Gonzales that he was undergoing treatment for depression and substance abuse at the MMC at the time of the killing. The prosecutor also noted that Pesico failed to positively identify Gonzales and his driver as the assailants. The family of Delgado claimed that the killing of his brother has something to do with the voluminous documents that he was able to secure from the residence of his 91-year-old father and late wife Vicky Quirino-Gonzales, the suspect's mother. These documents would allegedly show how the assets of the Delgado patriarch were being siphoned off and sold by the Gonzaleses. - GMANews.TV