"Chop-chop" case suspect accuses police of torture

CEBU, Philippines -  “I was forced to sign the affidavit of confession.”

This was the claim of Richard Gudelosao, one of the accused in the murder of two women in Talisay City in 2008.

He said he was threatened by the police inside a “dark room” to sign the said document. He added he was tortured by them.

Gudelosao said that his co-detainees were not able to see the alleged torture because he was placed in a separate room.

He asked for their mercy, saying he has wife and children to feed, but the police told him to follow what they want, prompting him to sign the said document.

Gudelosao, during the continuation of his cross examination, claimed that he had no participation in the killing of Maria Eva Mae Peligro and Gwendolyn Balasta, natives of the province of Bohol.

The killing happened inside a house in Azienda Firenze in Talisay.

He said he was in their house when his co-accused Jojo Cellar murdered the victims. However, he said, he was drunk at that time.

When asked if he saw Cellar allegedly loading 13 plastic bags containing several body parts of the victims to a taxicab parked at the garage, Gudelosao said he was asleep.

Gudelosao said when Cellar told him that he killed the victims, he was angry at Cellar but failed to report the incident to the police immediately because he was drunk.

He added he was told by Cellar that he killed the two before he chopped them. He said Cellar did not ask his permission before using his taxicab in disposing of the chopped body parts of the victims.

He testified that days after the incident, he confided to the security guard of the subdivision regarding Cellar’s act of killing the victims.

In an interview, defense counsel Salvador Solima said the testimony of his client proved his innocence. He said his client never participated in the commission of the crime.

But in an interview with the prosecution, lawyer Julius Caesar Entise said he already expected the testimony of the accused. He said based on their ocular inspection, they found out that Cellar does not know how to drive.

Diosdado Peligro, the father of one of the victims, said the testimonies of the accused were all lies. He added that he seeks justice for his daughter’s death.

In his earlier testimony, Gudelosao said that before the crime was committed on July 24, 2008, he and Cellar drank alcoholic drinks.

He said he and Cellar were close friends. He added that he has a live-in partner for more than 10 years - Jean Antonette Medalle, who is also an accused in the case.

Gudelosao said his live-in partner was not at home when the crime was committed as she was in Lahug.

Peligro and Balasta were strangled to death. Peligro lived at Azienda Firenze, in the house owned by her fiancé, the brother of Gudelosao.  (FREEMAN)