Three men charged in Floren Hotel slays
DAGUPAN CHRISTMAS EVE SHOCKER
Police say robbery was motive
Can anything ever justify the violent deaths of three hotel staff on Christmas eve over the hotel’s P44,000 cash?
The bloody scene in the lobby so shocked the city that the Dagupan police worked overtime to solve the case and eventually led to the filing on Thursday of charges of multiple counts of murder, one frustrated murder and robbery against a security guard, a laundry boy and one John Doe in connection with the gruesome murder of three employees of the Floren Hotel on Rizal Street and battering of another on Christmas eve.
Charged were Victor Dalisay, reliever-security guard employed by Sampaguita Investigation and Security Agency; Jhun-Jhun Romero, laundry boy; and another man tagged by the police as mere John Doe.
Both Dalisay and Romero were presented by Supt. Edgar Basbas, chief of police, during a press conference on Wednesday attended by Police Regional Director Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil, Police Provincial Director Alan Purisima, Mayor Benjamin Lim and Dagupan City Health Officer Dr. Leonard Carbonell.
.Basbas said Dalisay and Romero were arrested separately by the police in their respective residences, the former at barangay Calanutian, Sison town; and the latter at Pogo Grande in Dagupan.
Stabbed to death were Arcyl Molano, 23, of Mangaldan town, and Jojo Calamagan, a room boy, of General Santos City, while Michael Belo, a roomboy, of Sta. Barbara was clubbed to death.
Also clubbed with two-inch by four inch wood at the coffee shop but who survived the ordeal was another roomboy Joross Andres who was rushed to the Region I Medical Center. After he regained consciousness, he told investigators that it was Dalisay who smashed his head and face with a piece of wood.
Police believed the violent killing occurred between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. right after the Christmas Party of the hotel’s employees, attended by the owner Jose Lim.
Robbery was finally tagged as the motive of the triple slaying as some P44, 000 cash, consisting of salaries, bonuses and sales for the day were missing from the drawer of Molano, the hotel cashier.
This was corroborated by Romero who broke down after intense grilling Tuesday night, confessing that it was Dalisay who masterminded the robbery with the help of a still identified suspect.
Basbas said based on Romero’s confession, it was the unidentified suspect who stabbed and killed Molano and Calamagan one after the other while Dalisay clubbed both Belo and Andres Romero confessed to having provided the wood to be used to club the two roomboys.
Basbas said he initially suspected Dalisay as one of the suspects when he disappeared after flagging down a passing tricycle and told the driver to call the police.
As the security guard on duty, Dalisay should have been there to answer questions from the investigators but he disappeared which Basbas said was a sign of guilt.
None of the hotel guests said they noticed the commotion at the lobby at anytime except for one guest who told the police that she noticed one hotel staff lying on the sofa when she left the hotel for the 4.a.m. midnight mass but never suspected he was already dead.
Molano’s bloodied body was dragged to the stock room while the others were kept inside the coffee shop and the lobby.
General Bataoil congratulated the officers and men of the Dagupan City police led by Basbas for the early solution of the multiple slaying.
Mayor Lim said he gave the police within 72 hours from morning of December 24 to solve the case and did it before the deadline.
Basbas said they released another roomboy, Richard Peter Fernandez from Lingayen, whom Dalisay first implicated as the one he saw smashing the heads of Belo and Adres, only to retract the statement later.
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