MANILA, Philippines — Actress Pilar Pilapil turned out to have been set up to make easy money out of her, with her female companion being eyed as the key player in the crime, police said Monday. This developed as policemen were deployed to secure Pilapil as soon she was discharged in a hospital last Good Friday.
Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said the concocted story told by Rosel Jacosalem Peñas to Pilapil prior to the incident, coupled with some testimonial evidence, made them declare that the former is a suspect and not a victim as earlier considered by the investigators.
“We are now hot on the trail of Rosel Jacosalem Peñas who is now a suspect in the robbery and stabbing of actress Pilar Pilapil,” said Pagdilao.
“Currently, we are now conducting specific investigation focusing on the actual participation of Peñas and the other suspects for the purpose of filing the appropriate cases against them,” he added.
Pagdilao said there are three major reasons why they declared Peñas a suspect. One of them is the wrong information she provided to Pilapil concerning her supposed employment at the Unilever Philippines and another is the false information that she had just arrived in the country from Australia.
“CIDG investigators have found out also based on the record check at the Department of Foreign Affairs that Peñas did not leave the country contrary to her claim to Pilapil that she was in Australia prior to the incident,” said Pagdilao.
What further pinned down Peñas was the testimonies by some witnesses that she was seen driving the car she used to pick up Pilapil in a Pasig mall on April 15, or a day after the actress was stabbed and later dumped in Antipolo City.
“She (Peñas) was sighted in her boarding house somewhere in Metro Manila a day after the incident driving the KIA Carens with plate number CIZ-888,” said Pagdilao.
“Her failure to surface after the incident and the fictitious circumstances surrounding her personality convinced authorities that she is a suspect and not a victim,” he added.
Senior Supt. Joel Napoleon Coronel, head of the CIDG-National Capital Region, said the KIA Carens is not a stolen vehicle and is registered to a certain Romeo Jose dela Cuesta of Villamor II, Sabater, Caloocan City.
“We have already invited Mr. Dela Cuesta to shed light on why Ms. Peñas is in possession of his car since November last year,” said Coronel.
Coronel appealed to the public who may have knowledge on the whereabouts of Peñas, whose picture the CIDG has released to the media last week, to report the information to the SITG (Special Investigation Task Group) hotline 722-1206.
Coronel said that they are now readying a case of robbery with serious physical injuries against Peñas and the two male suspects.
Aaron Recuenco, Manila Bulletin
