The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) vowed 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 for Forensic Investigation Service Ferdinand Lavin made the commitment during the 14th meeting of the House Quad Committee that is investigating illegal drugs, Philippine offshore gambling 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,” Lavin told lawmakers.
Lavin said they are only waiting for the results of the forensic examination on the gadgets turned over by the wife of Barayuga to NBI agent Arnold Diaz in Iloilo. Warrants to examine the electronic devices have been applied.
“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,” Lavin said on Tuesday 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.