SC revives Pastor parricide case

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the revival of a parricide case against Dalia Guerrero Pastor, an alleged co-conspirator in the killing of her husband, race car driver Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor in 2015.

In a 43-page decision dated 26 February 2024 written by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, the Court’s Second Division reversed the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) which dismissed the parricide case against Dalia.

The SC reinstated the arrest warrant and hold departure order (HDO) issued by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City against Dalia.

To recall, Pastor was driving to Clark, Pampanga, with his mechanic, Paolo Salazar, when he was ambushed and shot dead at the intersection of Visayas Avenue and Congressional Avenue in Quezon City in 2014.

Police investigations pointed to Pastor’s wife and her lover, Domingo de Guzman III, as the alleged masterminds.

PO2 Edgar Angel, who confessed to being Pastor’s gunman, identified Dalia and De Guzman as the individuals who contracted him to kill Pastor in exchange for P100,000. Angel claimed that De Guzman contracted him out of pity for Dalia, who was being physically abused by her husband.

Angel and De Guzman were charged for Pastor’s murder, while Dalia was charged for parricide. Angel and De Guzman have been arrested, while Dalia remained at large.

Another witness, Alvin Nidua, also came forward claiming to be a gun-for-hire and disclosed that De Guzman had tried to engage his services to kill Pastor through his handlers, but he declined due to the low contract price.

“As shown by the foregoing pieces of evidence, Dalia has been positively identified by both PO2 Angel and Nidua as the woman who, together with De Guzman, met them on separate dates during which their services as guns-for-hire were sought to kill Enzo,” the SC said.