Inmate linked to murder of village chief arrested anew

By Felipe V. Celino

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – Another warrant of arrest was served Wednesday, April 20, by Panay Municipal Police Station to an inmate or person deprived of liberty (PDL) of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Barangay San Jose, Roxas City.

The arrest warrant for attempted murder was served against Joey Cumawas Bacus alias Tata, 40, of Barangay Libas here.

Judge Kristine B.  Tiangco-Vinculado, of the Roxas City Regional Trial Court Branch 16 issued the warrant on Sept 14, 2018.

A P120,000 bail was recommended for his temporary liberty.

Bacus was first arrested for illegal possession of firearm in May 2021 in the port of Batangas City.

When police checked his background, it was discovered that he has a warrant of arrest for murder, a non-bailable offense.

Bacus is one of the suspects in the murder of the late punong barangay Elvis Asis of Lawaan here.

Asis was gunned down while on board a motorcycle that Joselito Casela drove around 8 p.m. of April 27, 2018.

In a 10-page resolution dated Aug. 28, 2018, the Roxas City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the complaint against Rogelio Buaron for “lack of probable cause.”

Asis’ wife Jocelyn, who was elected village chief of Lawaan after her husband’s death, and Casela filed the murder and frustrated murder complaints against Bacus, Buaron, and a John Doe.

In his affidavit, Casela positively identified Bacus as the one who shot Asis using a .45-caliber pistol.

Bacus denied the accusation in his counter-affidavit.