Court clears Miro as suspect in ‘Imok’ Rupinta’s murder

The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the charges filed against the alleged mastermind in the slay of Barangay Ermita Captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta.

In a resolution, Prosecutor Hyacinth Jadraque said there is no sufficient evidence to prove that Winefredo Miro had a hand in the gruesome murder of Rupinta on November 23, 2017.

Cebu Daily News on Saturday tried but failed to reach Miro who served as a barangay councilman of Ermita, and a former Cebu City Market Operations Division chief.

His lawyer, Edgar Gica, said he has yet to go over the resolution of the case, a copy of which was furnished to Miro.

“We welcome the findings of the prosecutor’s office, and we are happy of the development,” Gica said in a phone interview.

“At the outset, there were really no evidence against my client. All they had were pure allegations,” he added.

Rupinta was driving his vehicle with his common-law-wife Jocelyn Mendoza when two men on board two separate motorcycles waylaid and attacked them in Barangay Tayud, Liloan town last November 23.

Rupinta suffered a gunshot wound on the head and was brought to a hospital where he died. Mendoza was unharmed.

In an affidavit, Mendoza claimed Miro allegedly “orchestrated the assassination of Rupinta taking into consideration the long-standing feud between Miro and Rupinta for the control and dominance of the vendors association and other sources of income at the Carbon market.”

Another witness, Rolando Pacres, submitted an affidavit claiming he was approached by a certain Jessie Largo to kill Rupinta for P150,000.

He said he and Largo belonged to the same group of hired killers that was active in 2010 to 2016.

Pacres had claimed it was Largo who told him that the order allegedly came from Miro. In the same affidavit, Pacres claimed he met with Miro sometime in September 2017 to orient him on the route of Rupinta from Carbon to Liloan, where the village chief lived with Mendoza.

Sought for comments, Mendoza expressed dismay on the dismissal of the charges against Miro.

“I’m really disappointed. I have to talk to my family what next move we have to take,” she told CDN.

Her lawyer Salvador Solima said he will study what legal remedies they could to overturn the ruling.

“We will explore all possibilities to prove that it was really Miro who ordered the killing of Kap Imok,” said Solima.