Family of slain Army reservist seeks gov’t protection

BY JOSEPH JUBELAG

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The family of a murdered Army reservist has asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to place under its Witness Protection Program the witnesses in the case amid threats from the suspect’s camp.

The family of Alberto Bantilan sought the assistance of regional state prosecutor Al Calica to provide security and protection to the witnesses who testified against Esteban Quijano, a local businessman, who allegedly shot and killed the victim last Feb. 17 inside the suspect’s motor pool compound in Barangay Mabuhay, this city.

In their affidavits, witnesses Jorge Balunto, Crisanto Muso and Renante Kindat alleged that Quijano shot Bantilan with the use of a .22-caliber pistol following an altercation while they were having a drinking spree inside the suspect’s compound around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 17.

After killing the victim, the witnesses said Quijano threatened them not to report to the police that he was the one who killed Bantilan.

The victim’s wife, Liliabeth Bantilan, filed a murder complaint against Quijano before the city prosecutor’s office last March 2.

She said that she was able to make a phone call to her husband before the victim was shot and killed by the suspect.

She also alleged that her husband told her while they were conversing over the mobile phone that he together with Quijano and the three witnesses was having a drinking spree at Quijano’s compound.

Liliabeth Bantilan also alleged that her husband told her over the phone that he and Quijano figured in an altercation after the victim demanded the P100,000 balance of the payment for the vehicle he sold to the suspect.

She said her conversation with her husband was cut off following a gunshot she overheard over the phone.

Col. Gilberto Tuzon, city police director, has endorsed the application of the witnesses to the Witness Protection Program after Balunto reported to the police that Quijano together with his lawyer Alvie Damasco and Melchor Mallo, a policeman assigned to the General Santos City Police Office, went to their house in Barangay Labangal, this city last March 3 and warned him not to testify in the murder case filed against the suspect.