'Mastermind' in slay of racing champ Enzo Pastor falls

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities nabbed on Thursday night the alleged mastermind behind the killing of racing star Enzo Pastor in Cavite, just after the court decided to shelve the case for lack of arrests.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) tracked businessman Domingo "Sandy" de Guzman III to a hotel in Barangay Bucal around 7 p.m.

De Guzman, a suspect in the murder case along with Pastor's widow, Dalia Guerrero-Pastor, was then brought to the NBI office in Metro Manila.

The NBI said in radio reports that De Guzman has been using aliases to check in hotels to evade arrest.

Based on testimonies of witnesses, De Guzman and Guerrero-Pastor had an illicit affair prior to the killing of Pastor. De Guzman is suspected to have paid Pasay City police officer Edgar Angel a sum of P100,000 to shoot the car racer dead while on the road in Quezon City on June 12, 2014.

Guerrero-Pastor, meanwhile, is still being pursued by authorities and has been placed on the wanted list of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, in April.

Regional Trial Court Branch 85 Judge Luisito Cortez recently archived the parricide case against Guerrero-Pastor and the murder case against De Guzman due to lack of jurisdiction and failure of arrests.

The cases will be revived upon the arrest of the suspects, a court employee said in a previous report.

Pastor's mother, Remy, welcomed the arrest of De Guzman and urged the NBI to continue the manhunt for Guerrero-Pastor.

"It is our family's fervent wish that the truth will come out and justice for our son can finally be done so that we can start to heal," Remy told the STAR.

"Please continue to pursue the capture of Dalia Guerrero. And we humbly ask the public to watch over the case of Enzo to ensure that justice will be served," she added. — Camille Diola with reports from Robertzon Ramirez