8 witnesses refuse to testify on slays

CEBU CITY — Fearing for their safety, eight witnesses in last Thursday’s ambush-killing of Cebu Customs deputy collector for operations Eduardo Lao and examiner Bennet Sereno are hesitating from testifying on the incident.

This was revealed by National Bureau of Inves-tigation executive director Nelson Bartolome, who said they are having a hard time convincing the witnesses to testify.

Bartolome said they have given the witnesses the NBI’s contact numbers should they change their mind and decide to give their accounts of the incident.

Should the witnesses decide to surface, Bartolome said the bureau could assure them of protection and place them under the witness protection program of the Department of Justice.

Two other witnesses have helped the NBI prepare carto-graphic sketches of the two motorcycle-riding gunmen who were both described as at least five feet, four inches tall and with dark complexion.

The motorcycle driver was said to be about 30 years old and wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans, and his companion, about 25 to 35 years old, muscular, had short straight black hair and was also dressed in a shirt and jeans. — Freeman News Service