DoJ summons suspect in CA justice’s slay

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday summoned the lone suspect named in the murder of retired Court of Appeals (CA) justice Normandie Pizarro.

The DoJ issued a subpoena against Dr. Ramon Tayag Pangan.

The subpoena, dated April 7, was signed by Assistant State Prosecutor Michael Humarang and Prosecution Attorney Grace Arboladura.

Pangan was charged with murder by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The DoJ also directed Pangan to submit his counter affidavit within 10 days of receiving the complaint.

The NBI filed the complaint last March 23. Aside from NBI Agents Zack Hansel Balba, Paul Bacon and Mar Santos, the complainants included the son of the slain magistrate, Normandie Pizarro Jr.

The body of Pizarro was found on October 23 last year in Sitio Palublub, Barangay Lawy, Cristo Rey, Capas, Tarlac. He had been shot once in the back of the head. The body was also mutilated.

Based on the complaint, Pizarro had fetched Pangan earlier that day at Puregold, Clark, Pampanga.

In charging Pangan with murder, the complaint alleges that there was premeditation, based on Pangan’s extrajudicial confession prepared by his lawyer, Shelamarie Beltran.

In the Dec. 11, 2020, confession, Pangan admitted he planned the killing of Pizarro. He said he conspired with three unidentified persons in bringing Pizarro to Sitio Palublub where he and his companions killed him.

As further evidence of premeditation, Pangan had befriended Pizarro to gain his trust, the complaint said.

Pangan cut off the right hand and left fingers of the victim and stripped him of his clothes, according to the complaint.

Pangan also participated in the reenactment of the crime, and “after having been haunted by his conscience, he freely executed an extrajudicial confession.”

He insisted he could not identify his companions because they wore masks.

While Pangan’s confession “may have been replete with falsities and inconsistencies, it cannot be denied that he made a narration of events and circumstances that only a person who had participated in the killing would know. He knew the manner of killing, the position of the cadaver, and the place where the body and vehicle was dumped. Taken all together, his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the killing of Associate Justice Pizarro is certain and categorical, proving his primary involvement in the killing and no other,” the complaint stated.

The NBI also took into account the written statement of a certain Raul Concepcion that the associate justice confided to him in a text massage the unpaid loans of Pangan amounting to P90,000.

In another text message, Pizarro was said to have said he was working on a big case for the Pangans.

The complaint also cited another sworn statement by Desiree Villegas referring to a different debt Pangan owed.