Two “persons of interest” in the killing of the general manager of the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) tested negative for gunpowder residue, Lt. Jonito Pastrana, Bacolod Police Station 2 officer-in-charge, said Thursday, December 22.
Danny Pondevilla, 47, was found dead in the driver’s seat of his Honda CRV at 16th-Lacson Street, Bacolod City, with a lone gunshot wound on the left side of the occipital region of his brain at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, December 21.
His executive secretary and a NONECO union official who were tagged by the police as “persons of interest” were subjected to paraffin tests, and the results released Thursday were negative.
However, paraffin test results are not conclusive, Pastrana said.
They are still investigating other circumstances, he said
They are determining whether the killing of Pondevilla was work related or personal, he said.
The executive secretary of Pondevilla, who was with him when he was killed, became a person of interest because she was picked up from the scene of the crime by a union official and disappeared for more than three hours, Pastrana said.
She also deleted all her conversations with Pondevilla on his cellular phone, Pastrana pointed out.
They are submitting the phone to the police cybercrime division for possible retrieval of the deleted messages, which could provide them with leads in their investigation, Pastrana said.
The police also have not ruled out the statement of the executive secretary that Pondevilla was killed by a shooter who arrived on board a motorcycle, he added.
But is also possible that the shooter was already in Pondevilla’s vehicle, Pastrana said.
Pastrana said he has recommended the creation of a special investigation task group to hasten the probe into the killing of Pondevilla.
The police are also looking for CCTV footage in the area for leads, Pastrana said.
Pondevilla had just left the NONECO Christmas party at L’Fisher Hotel and was driving his white Honda CRV, with his executive secretary on board, when he stopped at 16th-Lacson Street to vomit as he had drank a lot of alcohol, the executive secretary said.
She said that is when a shooter on board a motorcycle arrived and shot him from the side of the driver’s seat.
Pastrana, however, said their investigation shows that the bullet could have come from within the vehicle.
Questions were also raised on why Pondevilla’s hands were strapped under his seatbelt.
Former Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael Coscolluela, provincial consultant on energy, said he was supposed to meet with Pondevilla Thursday “to talk about our common aspirations for energy security and just transition to renewable energy”.
“By a cruel and shocking turn of events, Atty. Pondevilla is gone, his life snuffed out with one bullet. As we await results of the investigation and pray for justice, we thank GM Dan for being with us in our journey. May the lights of Heaven now shine upon you brightly, never to suffer the brownouts that you wished we did not have to endure,” Coscolluela wrote on his Facebook page.
His colleagues at NONECO and at Central Negros Electric Cooperative, where he had served as acting manager, also called for justice for Pondevilla.*