AFP ready to join manhunt for Oberes slay suspects

The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Central Command (Centcom) has expressed willingness to help in tracking down the remaining suspects in the gruesome slay of Philippine Air Force Staff Sergeant Mark Herbert Oberes.

Col. Medel Aguilar, Deputy Assistant for the Centcom’s unified Staff for Civil-Military Operations, said they can help the police track down and Edna Cabañog, Tomas Isugan, and the two unidentified men.

“The killing of Oberes is a criminal case. The proper agency that investigates it is the Philippine National Police (PNP). We leave it to them. But if they need our support we’re ready,” he said in response to queries from reporters.

Aguilar said the army and the police have been coordinating with each other in several cases in the hope of protecting the people.

Senior Supt. Edgar Alan Okubo, Director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said they would need the help of all law enforcement agencies, including the army, to arrest the suspects in the killing of Oberes.

“The AFP will always be there. We work hand in hand in anti-crime operations,” he said.

Based on their investigation, Okubo said the suspects are moving from one place to another in Negros Oriental.

Police on Monday filed a murder complaint before the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office against Cabañog, the primary suspect in the crime; and the men she hired to kill Obores composed of Isugan and two other unidentified persons.

Last Friday, the Talisay City police also filed a murder complaint against Cabañog’s 20-year-old daughter Resamie, and the latter’s boyfriend Joshua Garciano.

Resamie and Garciano were arrested by the police an hour after the body of Oberes was found inside a burning vehicle in Sitio Tal-ut, Barangay Valencia, Carcar City last Jan. 31.

The two suspects are now detained at the Talisay City Police Office stockade after undergoing preliminary investigation.

Garciano, in an earlier interview, admitted that he drove the vehicle that transported the then wounded Oberes from Talisay City, where he was shot and wounded, to Carcar City where the victim was burned together with his car.

Garciano, 22, who expressed willingness to turn state witness, pointed at Cabañog as the alleged mastermind in the killing of Oberes.

Supt. Marlo Conag, Chief of the Talisay City Police Office, said they were coordinating with their counterparts in Negros Oriental to track down the suspects.

Cabañog, he said, had sent surrender feelers shortly after her name cropped up in the investigation but she has yet to fulfill her promise to surrender.

Oberes, 37, was mauled and shot by a group of persons in one of the driveways of Corazon Village in Barangay San Isidro, Talisay City before his body was transported to and burned in Carcar City at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018.

With the help of informants, police subsequently arrested Resamie and Garciano during a follow up operation.

Oberes’ body was identified by his family through his car, necklace, and part of the vehicle’s receipt which was partly burned.

Based on the investigation of the police, Oberes, who is married, had an illicit relationship with Resamie for some time.

When Resamie decided to broke up with Oberes, the victim allegedly threatened to post their sex acts on social media.

Resamie’s mother learned about it and allegedly hatched the plan to kill Oberes, the police said.

But Diana Oberes, the wife of the slain soldier, maintained her husband had no relationship with Resamie and that he was just trying to collect from Cabañog the P50,000 she owed from him.