Leyte House bets clash over 2016 murder case

TACLOBAN CITY — The 2016 murder of a village councilor has become the focal point of a legal battle that has placed two rival congressional candidates from Leyte in a contentious situation.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has requested that the Department of Justice take “appropriate action” based on its investigation records against former Leyte Third District Representative Vicente “Ching” Veloso and five other individuals for murder.

In a letter to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on 22 January, P/Lt. Col. Jessie Misal, CIDG’s deputy chief of the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, named Veloso, Nicolas Banez, William Louse Languido, Richan Dejon Pernis, Edwin Comendador and Edwin Mulle as respondents in the murder case.

The case concerns the killing of then barangay councilor Anthony Nuñez, who was shot dead on 25 January 2016, inside a cockpit in Tabango, Leyte by an unknown gunman.

Banez, Comendador and Mulle are already in custody, while Languido is detained at the Biliran Provincial Jail. Pernis was arrested on 7 December and is currently in CIDG custody.

Veloso, who is running for congressman in Leyte’s Fourth District against incumbent Rep. Richard Gomez, has dismissed the CIDG letter, asserting that it does not meet the criteria of a formal criminal complaint.

“This is not a criminal complaint yet. This is just a plain letter. A complaint must be sufficient in form and substance,” said Veloso, a former justice of the Court of Appeals.

This development comes after a barangay captain filed charges of conspiracy for grave coercion and grave threats against Gomez before the provincial prosecutor’s office on 23 October 2024. The complaint accuses Gomez of conspiring to falsely implicate Veloso in Nuñez’s murder.

In addition to Gomez, other individuals named in the complaint include Tabango Mayor Bernard Jonathan Remandaman, lawyer Rem Beryl Veloso, CIDG regional chief Col. Arwin Tadeo, Police Executive Master Sergeant Samson Picardal, Patrolman Fernand Songalia, and several unidentified individuals.

The charges were filed by Albert Morilla, a barangay captain in Barangay Manlawaan, Tabango, Leyte, through a special power of attorney from the real complainant, Darlito Sevilla, the brother of the slain Nuñez.

According to Morilla’s affidavit, Sevilla sought his help after CIDG operatives visited him multiple times in September, pressuring him to execute an affidavit implicating Veloso as the mastermind behind Nuñez’s murder.

Nuñez’s daughter, Aida Nuñez, also recounted being offered large sums of money by Mayor Remandaban in exchange for providing a sworn affidavit that would implicate Veloso. Remandaban allegedly told her that Richard Gomez would fund the bribe and care for her family.

The Leyte Provincial Prosecutor’s Office has already forwarded the complaint against Gomez and others to the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas.

“What we have now before the Office of the Ombudsman is an ongoing live criminal case against Richard Gomez,” Veloso stated.