Slain robber identified

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

Police has already identified the suspected robber killed a shootout in Dingle, Iloilo early Sunday morning.

Police Captain Fernando Punzalan, Jr., Dingle police chief, identified the slain suspect as Dominic Fresas, 22, a resident of Barangay Rizal Ilawod, Calinog, Iloilo.

Punzalan said Fresas’s brother, Ronald, confirmed his identity around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, more than 14 hours after he died in a police chase at Barangay Tabugon.

Police said the suspect could be one of the “John Does” in the Libuna-Lego Robbery Group that was tagged in the series of hold-up incidents in the fourth and fifth districts of Iloilo province.

But Dingle Police Station said Fresas had no derogatory record.

A habal-habal driver, the slain suspect was described as “mabait” or kind by his family.

It remains unclear how Fresas’s family got a hunch that he was killed in the shoot out with cops, although they allegedly asked a radio station for the slain man’s photo.

Fresas allegedly borrowed a friend’s motorcycle Friday but failed to return it in the weekend. This led his family to doubt that he may have been involved in the shootout.

His relatives claimed to have seen him talking to Rowen Libuna, the alleged leader of the robbery group. They also acknowledged knowing Joan Lego, the other leader of the group.

Earlier, police initially claimed that the slain man was Lego. Witnesses and the robbery victims claimed that Lego and Fresas had the same body builds. The two also had similar facial features.

Fresas was killed barely a week after the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) launched a massive manhunt operation against the Libuna-Lego robbery group.