Magpale unfazed by snags in Balamban cult case

The failure to present a third witness in the trial for probable cause against cult leader Casiano “Tatay Loloy” Apduhan is not discouraging Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Magpale of the Provincial Women’s Commission.

Magpale, in uplifting the morale of her team, pointed out that there are several cases filed against Apduhan.

“For one, how can you justify the skeleton of a child buried beneath your house?” Magpale asked.

The judge had denied the prosecution’s move to present another witness. This recent blow was added to the earlier claim of Emma Nepomuceno, the woman who was supposedly Apduhan’s victim, insisted she was not detained against her will.

Magpale said her team is determined in prosecuting Apduhan despite the recent string of events. She hopes, though, that the judge will not dismiss the illegal detention case.

“Hopefully, given the number of witnesses we have, we can be confident that the illegal detention case will not be dismissed,” she said.

Executive Judge Hermes Montero of the Toledo City Regional Trial Court gave both parties 10 days from yesterday’s hearing to submit their respective memoranda. After that, he will decide on whether to release Apduhan.

Magpale said they will include in their memorandum the report of the physician stating that the bruises on the body of Nepomuceno were inflicted by another person. Earlier, Nepumoceno had claimed that she got her bruises from a  fall.

Apduhan was taken into custody last March 26 after the National Bureau of Investigation raided his house in the mountain barangay of Buanoy, Balamban where authorities found Nepomuceno allegedly detained and the remains of a boy under the house.
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