Pasig rape-slay suspect admits drug use

MANILA, Philippines — The prime suspect in the rape and murder of a bank employee in Pasig City claimed he had been using illegal drugs for two years, a police official said yesterday. 

Randy Oavenada, 37, a truck driver, made his admission to Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula and Director Oscar Albayalde, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office.

Albayalde and Sapitula closeted themselves with Oavenada at the Pasig City police headquarters Monday.

“He admitted taking shabu for almost two years but temporarily stopped for the past two weeks,” Sapitula said in an interview.

Oavenada, however, tested positive for shabu days after Mabel Cama, 22, was found dead at an abandoned office in the former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority impounding area on Nov. 12.

Oavenada was first considered a witness in the rape-slay of Cama but Senior Superintendent Orlando Yebra Jr., Pasig City police chief, officially arrested him after his fingerprints were lifted from Cama’s cell phone, which was found at the crime scene.

His fingerprints were also found on the linoleum used to wrap Cama’s body, according to Superintendent Isidro Cariño, chief of the EPD crime laboratory.

The crime laboratory also recovered five pieces of aluminum foil, with traces of shabu, from the crime scene but Oavenada refused to say whether he was among those who sniffed shabu.

Cariño said Cama died of head injuries.

Her underwear and shorts, as well as her cell phone, were recovered near her body.