Manila: A person who was earlier believed to be one of the two victims in the stabbing of Filipina actress Pilar Pilapil is now considered the chief suspect in the April 17 attack.
Chief Superintentent Samuel Pagdilao, head of the national police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said authorities are now on the hunt for Rosel Jakosalem-Penas after police noted that she could have staged her own abduction to cover up for the robbery carried out on Pilapil.
Several stab wounds
Pilapil, 60, was found all bloodied from several stab wounds by a motorised tricycle driver on the evening of April 17 in Metro Manila's eastern outskirt of Antipolo City.
Initial investigations had said Pilapil had been robbed and her companion, Jakosalem-Penas, had been abducted by two men who supposedly boarded the latter's car unexpectedly.
However, recent police findings revealed that there was more to the Pilapil-Jakosalem-Penas incident than simple abduction. Police are now saying that the incident was a complex scheme spun by Jakosalem-Penas herself.
No longer a victim
"We are considering Miss Rosel Penas no longer a victim but a suspect in this case," Pagdilao was quoted as saying on Tuesday at the national police headquarters in suburban Quezon City.
Senior Supt. Joel Napoleon Coronel said their investigations reveal certain inconsistencies in Penas' travel and employment records.
Earlier reports said that Jakosalem-Penas was a niece of Pilapil and that she was on vacation in the Philippines from Australia where she was employed. But her records at the immigrations bureau says otherwise. Officials said they found out she had not left the country for several years.
Hadn't left the country
Police also pointed to the inconsistencies in the registration of the car Jakosalem-Penas was driving at the time the incident took place. Coronel said the model 2007 Kia Clarens she was driving on the day of the incident that left Pilapil wounded, was again seen parked near her last known address in Sampaloc, Manila, the following day.
The incident involving Pilapil gained prominence amid a slew of high profile car-jacking incidents in Metro Manila.
Pilapil, a former beauty title-holder-turned actress, was a well-known face as she played roles in soap operas. Reports said she is now under the protection of police at an undisclosed location.
