A Tribute to Serafin Dinsay

Serafin Dinsay was a friend way back in 1985-86 in St. Augustine Academy, Bayawan, Negros, Oriental. These news came as a shock to me two months ago after I searched his name in the net. The search was out of curiosity, from a desire to get connected with former classmates and friends. Here are the unfortunate news I have copied from the Visayan Daily Star:

THE VISAYAN DAILY STAR [May 10, 2002]
Four killed in payroll holdup
BY JUDY FLORES & ALEX PAL

The paymaster and two others government employees as well as a resident of Sta. Catalina town were killed by about three still unidentified gunmen, in what was tagged as a payroll robbery in barangay Maninihon, Bayawan Negros Oriental, at about 3 p.m. yesterday.


Initial reports from Sta. Catalina identified three of the fatalities as paymaster Librado Dagat, bookkeeper Winnie Capunong, 42, and Serafin Dinsay, 30, driver of the town's L-300 van.

All three were employed at the Municipal Treasurer's Office of the town. The fourth victim, Virginia Edrial, 52, was a midwife who had hitched a ride from Bayawan.

The victims were returning to Sta. Catalina after withdrawing P372,000 from the Land Bank in Bayawan City when they were stopped by two men armed with .45 caliber pistols.

Provincial Attorney Erwin Vergara said that after the victims were divested of the payroll money, they were brought by the suspects to barangay Omod, in Bayawan City, about five kilometers away, where they were shot to death. The suspects fled on two motorcycles, described as a black Honda TMX 155 motorcycle and a blue Kawasaki motorcycle, towards Mabinay town.

A witness called the police to report the incident. The bloodied bodies of the victims were found inside the van which was abandoned in the middle of a sugarcane field. The victims had been shot in various parts of their bodies.

The glass on the right door of the van was shattered and its door riddled with bullets.

Sta. Catalina Police Chief Sr. Insp. Crescenciano Pagnanawon said it was possible that the motorcycles and one of the robbers had been waiting in the sugarcane field, in preparation for their getaway.

PNP Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Drusillo Bolodo immediately ordered hot pursuit operations and the setting up of checkpoints in the towns of Mabinay, Bayawan, Basay, Pamplona and other towns in southern Negros Oriental.

Bolodo, who immediately went to the crime scene, also ordered the PNP Crime Laboratory to proceed to the area to gather fingerprints, that could be used to identify the suspects.

Raymundo Ybanez, OIC of the Provincial Treasurer's Office of Negros Oriental, said it was also possible that the suspects were known to the victims, so they were all killed to prevent identification.* (with reports from Romy Amarado)

THE VISAYAN DAILY STAR [May 10, 2002]
Cops eye local boys in Bayawan rob-slay

BAYAWAN CITY, Negros Oriental -- The Police are pursuing leads indicating the possible involvement of local boys in the Wednesday daytime robbery-slay in Sitio Kamandagan, Barangay Maninihon in Bayawan City that left four government workers of Sta. Catalina town dead.

Provincial Police Director Supt. Drusillo Bolodo said that initial police investigation had identified at least one of the suspects as a resident of Bayawan City.

Bolodo, however, did not reveal any names as hot pursuit operations continue in the hinterlands of southern and central Negros Oriental, where the suspects are believed to have exited from the crime scene.

Spearheading the police investigation are Bayawan Police Chief C/Insp. Alexander Gaudiano and Sta. Catalina Police Chief Sr. Insp Cresenciano Pagnanawon.

On Wednesday, the police said witnesses saw at least two armed men on board the government-owned white L-300 van that carried the four Sta. Catalina municipal workers, speeding along a dirt road up into the interior barangay of Maninihon.

What had attracted the attention of many witnesses was that while the vehicle was moving, the door to the driver's seat was open with an armed man seated close to the driver.

A witness phoned the police while the robbery was still in progress.

The van, with the four dead people inside, was found abandoned near a sugarcane field about six kilometers from the national highway in Sitio Kamandagan minutes later after the witnesses initially saw it speeding past then.

Police and forensic experts from the Negros Oriental PNP Crime Laboratory found empty shells, slugs, and live, expended but warped bullets of .45 caliber from the crime scene.

Ballistic tests are now being conducted even as PCCL Chief Sr. Insp. Alet Virtucio says he believes at least two .45 caliber pistols were used by the suspects.

Except for the driver who sustained two bullet wounds to the face and the upper left portion of his back, the other victims succumbed to a single gunshot wound either to the head or neck.

Killed in Wednesday's rob-slay were Sta. Catalina municipal treasurer's office workers, Serafin Dinsay, Librado Dagat and Winnie Capunong and the local government midwife Virginia Edrial.

Meanwhile, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Dumaguete City are now taking DNA samples from personal belongings that were recovered by the police at the juncture of the national highway and the dirt road that led to the crime scene.

Police believe these items belonged to the suspects who may have changed into military attire before they pulled the heist.

A cartographer from the NBI in Bacolod City was also scheduled to arrive in Bayawan City yesterday afternoon to talk to witnesses.

Cartographic sketches of the suspects will be released to the public soon even as Bayawan and Sta. Catalina local officials are set to discuss the possibility of putting up reward money for information leading to the arrest of the killers.*JSF

THE VISAYAN DAILSY STAR [August 2, 2002]
Rebel official under probe for Bayawan holdup-slays
BY VICTOR CAMION

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is now investigating the alleged connivance of a top official of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army Alex-Boncayao Brigade with two of the three persons accused in the Bayawan hold-up slay.

The probe had been based on reports that the two suspects are now the RPA-ABB top officials, who have refused to turn them over to the police. One of the three suspects surrendered to the police a few days after the incident.

P/Insp. Crisaleo Tolentino said they are also looking into the motive of the report, as this could either help come up with the real picture of justice or destroy the peace agreement between the government and the group.

The CIDG said they still believe in the credibility of the group but added that nobody is above the law.

If the report is true, the respondents will be charged for obstruction of justice and for harboring criminals. Provincial Intelligence PNCO SPO3 Herbert Arinaza, in a separate interview, said they also received reports that the amount taken by the hold-uppers in Bayawan was divided into three. "The first 50 percent was supposed to have gone to the regional command of the group, 25 percent supposedly went to the district command, and the remaining 25 percent was allotted for operations.

RPA-ABB Regional Commanding Officer Reynaldo Mallari had earlier offered help to Provincial Director P/Sr. Supt. Drusillo Bolodo in nabbing the suspects.

Mallari also admitted that the three suspects, Raul Villar alias Ka Drilon, the Amaro brothers, Julio and Jaime, were all former members of the RPA-ABB but are under disciplinary action.

The three are now facing charges of robbery with multiple homicide. During the Bayawan hold-up slay they took more than P300,000 in payroll money.

Killed during the incident were Sta. Catalina municipal employee paymaster Librado Dagat, bookkeeper Winnie Capunong, driver Serafin Dinsay and hitchrider Virginia Edrial, a midwife. *VC