TWO persons were arrested on Monday, December 3, for possession of a stolen Grab vehicle whose driver, 41-year-old Jiboy Alegado, was found dead in a secluded area in the town of Asturias, Cebu, last month.
Supt. Hersan Mojica, deputy chief of the Regional Highway Patrol Group in Central Visayas (RHPG-7), said that the two suspects identified as Anthony Decierdo and Christian Go were arrested after a certain “Mark” tried to sell the car, a bluish black Nissan Almera Sedan, through a shopping website for only P379,000 in cash.
“Nag-post sila sa online na nagbebenta ng ganitong kotse. Yung kotse same description ng kotse na reportedly na carnapped. Kaya agad tayong nag conduct ng operation (They posted online that they were selling a car. The car had the same description as the one reported carnapped so we immediately conducted an operation),” said Mojica.
The car, owned by a certain Constantino Cuyos, was last driven by Alegado whose body was found in Asturias town last November 13 while the car was nowhere to be seen.
Alegado’s body was identified only last December 1 by his family.
“We filed a case of carnapping against the two persons for selling a car that was reportedly stolen,” said Mojica adding that the plate number and engine number of the recovered vehicle matched those of the stolen car.
As to the investigation on Alegado’s killing, Mojica said that RHPG-7 will leave the matter up to the Asturias police amid claims by the two suspects that the car was merely pawned to them by someone.
Chief Insp. Roger Quijano, Asturias Police Station chief, said that they now consider Decierdo and Go as persons of interest in the killing of Alegado.
“We are now coordinating with RHPG so that we will know the background of these two arrested persons and we will gather all possible evidence to pin down those responsible for the killing,” said Quijano.