Vice gov testifies about Balamban cult: Parents sought help

Vice Gov Agnes Magpale recounts how the parents of Angelo asked for her help. She testified in the court of Judge Ruben Altubar in the Regional Trial Court, Toledo City.
(CDN Photo/Tonee Despojo)

CEBU Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday took the witness stand to describe how the complaint against a Balamban faith healer last year alerted her office about the existence of a cult in Balamban town.

Magpale was presented as a witness along with the mother of 14-year-old Angelo, whose bones were found in an underground room of the mansion of the accused, Casiano Apduhan.

Magpale recounted how the boy’s parents sought her assistance after complaining that they were taken advantage of by Apduhan.

“They were made to believe that the world would end in 2013 and only members of Apduhan’s cult would be saved. They also mentioned how their son was offered as padugo (sacrifice) by the accused,” the vice governor told Judge Ruben Altubar of Branch 29 of the Regional Trial Court Branch in Toledo City.

Defense lawyers urged the court to allow Apduhan to post bail, saying the evidence against him in trafficking and murder charges was weak.

Lawyer Paulino Labrado also complained that the prosecution was delaying proceedings.

“You’re telling the court that you intend to present this particular witness. But you later said you can dispense with that witness as long as there will be an ocular inspection. Now the court denied your request for an ocular inspection and you’re saying you’ll just present that witness,” lawyer Paulino Labrado told Prosecutor Reynaldo Menchavez in yesterday’s hearing.

Menchavez said they will present medicolegal officer Dr. Rene Cam of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as their next witness on March 19.

In yesterday’s hearing, Vice Governor Magpale testified with the boy’s mother Remigia, whose family used to work on the farm of Apduhan in barangay Buanoy.

Remigia said she wasn’t able to read the contents of her affidavit but clarified that a lawyer explained to her what was in it.

The mother earlier said Apduhan, his driver Victor Fajardo, and his aide Zacarias Barquio were the last people seen with her son Angelo before his death.

Barquio pleaded not guilty during arraignment in court yesterday.

Of the three accused, only Fajardo remains at large.

Angelo’s remains were found in a 50-foot-deep tunnel under Apduhan’s house. Apduhan earlier testified that the boy’s parents voluntarily brought Angelo to his residence to be cured but the boy succumbed to his illness, which was not specified.

Following

Apduhan remains in the Toledo City Jail following his arrest last March 26, 2014 in barangay Buanoy, Balamban town.

He is accused in another court case of illegal possession of firearms and serious illegal detention for allegedly keeping 33-year-old Emma Nepomuceno, who was rescued by NBI agents from the house.

The woman in open court later denied she was a victim and said she willingly stayed in Apduhan’s house for five years to avoid her family.