NBI to present 23 witnesses in Blanca murder case

The National Bureau of Investig-ation (NBI) said it will present a total of 23 witnesses against the suspects in the November 7, 2001, killing of 66-year-old local screen icon Nida Blanca. The suspects include Blanca's 62-year-old American husband Rod Strunk and seven others, three of whom are yet to be named.

The NBI said it has already submitted sworn testimonies from the witnesses to boost its case against the eight suspects before the state prosecutor's office. Government lawyers are still weighing the case if they would proceed in filing criminal charges in court against Strunk, who is presently in the U.S., and the other suspects.

According to the NBI, of these witnesses, at least five are considered vital to the prosecution, mainly due to their knowledge of the crime that clearly points to the accused as perpetrators of the brutal murder of Blanca. The bureau will also be using initial testimonies made by suspect Philip Medel, who earlier claimed being the one who stabbed the actress on November 7 last year, upon orders of Strunk.

He later withdrew his statement, after a businessman he implicated in the killing, mysteriously disappeared. The NBI has said the dispute over Blanca's disinheritance of Strunk is the most possible motive in the killing. Among the witnesses are Leonilo Gonzaga, a room mate of Medel, Romulo Kintanar, Immigration Security Officer, Julio de Lara, the store keeper, Rosalinda Molina, Atlanta Tower Building's Assistant Administrator and another person who has claimed he was offered the job to kill the actress.

Gonzaga and Kintanar have claimed Medel sought their help for his surrender to the police after admitting to them that he participated in the killing of the actress allegedly on the orders of Strunk. They eventually helped facilitate the suspect's surrender to two weeks after the crime.

De Lara has confirmed that Strunk bought from him a utility knife two days before Blanca's murder and even has furnished probers with a purchase receipt. The knife has turned out to be the murder weapon surrendered by Medel and the forensic test has showed it has blood stains matching Nida's blood type.