By Ashley Manabat / Correspondent
ANGELES CITY—A P100,000 reward has been put up by Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan for any person who can provide information leading to the arrest of Fidel Sheildon D. Arcenas, 36, the principal suspect in the kidnapping and killing of his estranged live-in partner, bank teller Tania Camille Dee-Arcenas, 33.
This developed as Arcenas failed to show up at the office of the Pampanga Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (Cidu) on Wednesday, the deadline imposed by the police for his surrender.
Earlier, Angela T. Dychioco, 21, Arcenas’s present live-in girlfriend, tagged him in a statement she gave to the police.
Dychioco, through her lawyer, admitted that she helped Arcenas carry the victim’s body to the shallow grave behind her mother’s house on Lilian Street, Santa Maria Subdivision in Barangay Balibago here, where Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents found her at 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Dychioco said she was forced to help carry the body of the victim on orders of Arcenas and for fear she might get his ire.
Dychioco’s mother Regina, who initially reported to the police Dee’s murder, owns the house where her lifeless body was found.
Senior Supt. Eden Ugale, city police director, said the father of the suspect, Fidel Arcenas Sr., told investigators his son could no longer be found.
The elder Arcenas is a former provincial administrator and now works as chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza).
Pamintuan said Angela is now in the custody of the Cidu, while the police have launched a manhunt on Arcenas, who remains at large.
History of violence
COURT records show that on September 18, 1996, Ann L. Manaloto was set to take her younger sister Marilou home after her class at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF).
While Ann was waiting for her sister at the parking lot of AUF, she met Arcenas, who volunteered to take Marilou home instead. Ann acceded to his request and informed Marilou that it will be Arcenas who will take her home and that she will go ahead.
But before she could leave, she saw the Arcenases’ L-300 van parked near an acacia tree on McArthur Highway and noticed that the hazard lights of the van were on.
Ann asked Fidel what happened. Arcenas told Ann that his car broke down and asked Ann to bring him to Carmenville Subdivision, where his parents were attending a party, so he can get another car.
When the two entered the Carmenville subdivision, Arcenas told Ann to turn right. He told Ann that his parents were attending a party in the said vicinity and that he will get another vehicle from his parents.
When the two reached the Forest Road, Arcenas instructed Ann to make another right turn. After she made a right turn, Ann noticed that it was already a dead end.
That was when Arcenas got hold of Ann’s head and attacked her.
But Ann fought back, which allowed her to get out of her car and shout for help.
Three residents from the vicinity where the incident happened rushed to Ann’s rescue.
Ann suffered a broken nose, contusion, hematoma, bite marks and bruises all over here neck.
It was determined by the court that Arcenas had the intention not only to inflict physical injuries but to kill Ann, whom he lured to go with him by pretending that his vehicle broke down and to bring her to a place where he thought no one can discover his ill intention.
However, it took seven months to file a case against Arcenas because, according to Ann’s lawyer, the suspect tried to prevent the filing of the case and negotiate a settlement.
On April 30, 1997, Criminal Case 97-814 for attempted homicide was filed against Arcenas and, after 14 years on July 5, 2011, Branch 3 of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities here convicted Arcenas and sentenced him to four years and two months in prison and to pay P20,000 for moral damages to Ann.
But Arcenas never went to jail. He was granted a four-year probation on November 15, 2011, that is set to expire in November had he not figured in the kidnapping and murder of his estranged wife last week.