Murder raps filed against duo in ‘sex worker’s’ slay

By Jennifer P. Rendon

In what was deemed a rare event, police identified and filed a criminal complaint against riding-in-tandem assassins.

The Iloilo City Police Station 1 on Wednesday filed a murder case against two persons who allegedly killed Apple Jane Nacionales (not Castillo as earlier reported by the police) who was gunned down early morning of June 6, 2022.

Major Shella Mae Sangrines, ICPS1 chief, identified one of the suspects as John Louie Macogue while the other remains a John Doe.

Incidentally, an alleged victim of summary killing was found at Barangay Sooc, Arevalo district on the day the Nacionales murder case was filed before the Iloilo City Prosecutors Office.

A family member later confirmed that the victim was Macogue, the same man hauled to court for Nacionales’ death (see related story).

Macogue was hogtied and his head was bound with duct tape. He suffered three gunshot wounds on the head.

Sangrines said they have three witnesses – an eyewitness and two circumstantial witnesses – who will testify against the two suspects in the Nacionales case.

“The eyewitness said that he was just a few meters away when Apple Jane was shot dead. He positively identified Macogue as the triggerman,” she said.

Sangrines said they were set to file the case Tuesday, but they waited for Nacionales’ death certificate.

With Macogue’s death, the prosecutor might issue a resolution to dismiss the case against him once a death certificate would be furnished.

But the case against Macogue’s companion would still proceed, Sangrines opined.

The 28-year-old Nacionales, a resident of Guimbal Iloilo, was standing at corner Ledesma-Valeria Streets in Barangay Ed Ganzon, City Proper when motorcycle-riding suspects shot her.

REVENGE

Police theorized revenge as the possible motive in the killing of Nacionales.

In 2015, the victim was arrested for allegedly visiting a suspected drug den.

Three years later, she was released from incarceration through plea-bargaining agreement.

The vengeance angle came to fore after police learned from the victim’s friends that she personally knew Jezzel Macogue, 20, and her mother, Maria Luisa Sevilla, 46, both residents of Barangay Nazarreth, Buenavista, Guimaras.

Jezzel is John Louie’s sister while Sevilla is their mother.

Nacionales and Jezzel Macogue were believed to be prostituted women while Sevilla was an alleged pimp.

The mother-and-daughter tandem were arrested in a drug buy-bust operation on June 2 in Arevalo, Iloilo City.

“We have received reports that Macogue and Sevilla’s camp was suspecting Nacionales as the person behind their arrest,” Sangrines said.

Police investigators also learned that Nacionales and Sevilla have been together when they were imprisoned at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) female dormitory in Iloilo City.