NBI agents visit ambush scene in Mandaue, talk to witnesses

NBI agent headed by Renan Oliva (back to camera) talk to neighbors on Catalino Ouano Street in Mandaue City where the ambush of lawyer Amelie Alegre took place. Did someone see something useful to investigators? (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

AGENTS of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday inspected the site where lawyer Amelie Alegre and two officemates  were ambushed last Aug. 13.

Agents  also talked to witnesses, took sketches of the place, and viewed footage of a  closed-circuit TV camera installed in a nearby traffic light.

They checked out  Catalino Ouano Street where the suspects may have passed before and after the ambush.

“We may be behind in the investigation that is also being conducted by police. But we have to perform our mandate and responsibilities especially since  the family of Atty. Alegre sought assistance from the NBI,” said NBI head agent Rennan Augustus Oliva.

“Our investigation is still ongoing. That’s it for now,” said NBI Asst. Regional Director Augusto Isidoro.

Oliva also led the investigation in the 2014 ambush of lawyer Noel Archival and his three companions in Dalaguete town, south Cebu last year.

Three officials of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) were identified and charged for  Archival’s murder.

The NBI stepped in to investigate the lawyer’s death after  being requested by her cousin, retired Prosecutor Carmelita Terez of Mandaue City.

Unlikely

The NBI inquiry is separate from the  police’s investigation, but Isidoro said they will coordinate with the police and exchange notes if needed.

Alegre was driving a gray BMW sedan when she was shot  dead by two motorcycle-riding men along C. Ouano Street at 6:51 p.m.

Her passengers, law partner Briccio Joseph Boholst, and office accountant Antonio Pino were wounded.

A witness yesterday told the NBI that a man on board a motorcycle, went back to the place six hours after the ambush.

“He was asking about the lawyer who was shot. But I noticed that he kept looking for something on the road. That was 1 a.m. and its unlikely for a person to do that,” the witness said.