3 suspects eyed in Nida Blanca case

The National Bureau of Investigation is strongly relying on the statements of five witnesses in the filing of charges against at least three suspects in the murder of veteran actress Nida Blanca.

According to NBI sources, the witnesses, who include employees of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and Blanca’s friends in the show business and family members, have provided vital statements that have jived with circumstantial evidence.

Though sources have refused to identify who the suspects in the case are, they said at least three persons could be charged with murder regarding the actress’ death.

"We are still making the final evaluations. The suspects list could still be narrowed to just two or even one. The case rests on the statements of the witnesses," said an investigator. Investigators added that two witnesses have never been presented to media.

NBI case investigators have kept mum on the angle that Blanca’s husband Rod Strunk and Philip Medel, the self-confessed killer who later recanted his statements, would still be included in the charge sheet. Strunk is now in the United States while Medel is back in Cebu after he left the custody of the NBI.

Barring hitches, the NBI, with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is poised to lodge a complaint for murder regarding the Blanca murder before the Department of Justice today.

NBI investigators admit that the Blanca case is a tough case to crack as even the exact time and place where the veteran actress was killed have still yet to be established by probers.

"There remains the possibility that she was killed elsewhere but was merely dumped inside her car. If that is the case, we still have to find where the first crime scene is," said one investigator.– Mike Frialde