By Jennifer P. Rendon
The village chief of Inangayan in Santa Barbara, Iloilo said he has no knowledge of the supposed deleted portions of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footages that police are investigating relative to the murder of businesswoman Claire Diergos.
This was the response of Punong Barangay Ricardo Bayog to the query of the Sta. Barbara Police Station.
The footages were captured by the village’s CCTV in the area where Diergos’s body was found.
On Nov 11, 2021, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) Diergos, though Santa Barbara police chief Major Raymond Celoso, sent a letter to Bayog asking him to explain why several parts of the CCTV footages taken on Oct 26, the day the body was discovered, and Oct 27 in front of the Iloilo Provincial Motorpool office were expunged.
In the same letter, Celoso noted that such footage is one of the vital evidence in the ongoing investigation on Diergos’s death.
Bayog was made to explain within 24 hours from receipt of the letter, which he did. He submitted his reply letter on Nov 12 and held a press conference on Nov 13.
During the press conference, Bayog said that he has no knowledge of operating their CCTV cameras.
“Only our SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) chairman Clarissa Yocson, Barangay Kagawad Lilienthal Sugob and Barangay Treasurer Luzienith Cortez had the knowledge of opening it,” he said.
Diergos was presumably killed on the night of Oct 24 at her home at Deca Homes Subdivision, Pavia, Iloilo.
Her body was discovered afternoon of Oct 26 inside her Mitsubishi Montero Sports SUV at Barangay Inangayan.
It was in the morning of Oct 28 when a certain police officer Puga went to Bayog’s office to get a copy of the footages but was not able to get one immediately.
At 5:52 p.m. of the same day, two of Celoso’s subordinates, one of whom was a certain Gumbam, secured CCTV footages taken on Oct 25. Sugon and Yocson assisted them.
The two officers left the office at 7:50 p.m. but Puga and a lady officer returned at 10:30 p.m. to get another copy.
Bayog said the two police officers claimed that the CCTV footages they collected earlier were corrupted. The two secured another copy of the CCTV footages in his presence.
In the morning of the following day, the media also came, viewed, and recorded the CCTV footages using their mobile phones.
On Nov 5, Diergos’s sister also came to watch the CCTV footage on Oct 28. She was accompanied by the lady officer, who came with Gumban on Oct 28.
“As far as I know, the CCTV footage that was collected and opened here is Oct 25 & 28, 2021 only and we have no knowledge that the dates that was deleted because most of them, when the police came here, and the media as well, they only request Oct 25, 2021,” he said.
Bayog said there was no intention to delete any part of the CCTV footages. If ever there were deleted portions, he said it could have been accidental.
He is not discounting the possibility that the hard drive might have been corrupted because several persons have requested to get the copy.
Meanwhile, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) is asking the public for any information that might help the case. For informants, they could call the SIT “Diergos” hotline 0998-967-3719.
