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Parricide raps were filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Mon, Jul 13, against businessman Fidel Sheldon Arcenas for the killing of his ex-wife, bank teller Tania Camille Dee.
In a 4-page transmittal letter by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) Pampanga, with Tania’s sister, Rose Mary Ann Dee, as complainant, Arcenas’ girlfriend, Ma. Angela Francesca Dychioco, was also charged with murder.
Tania, 33, was last seen on June 20 “to receive a substantial amount of money (P400,000) from Sheildon but failed to return home,” according to the complaint. Complainant Dee reported her missing on June 21 with the Angeles City Police Station 4.
Tania’s lifeless body was found in a shallow grave at the back of the house owned by Angela’s mother, Regina, located at lot 10, Block 4, Lilian St., Sta. Maria Subdivision, Barangay Balibago, Angeles City.
“[O]n June 27, 2015 at about past 5:00 pm, Mrs. Regina T. Dychioco, together with her male friend, went to her vacant house… to check on the house. Before they could enter the place, they were ‘welcomed by an unusually strange and foul odor coming from inside the property.’
“[A]t about 9:00 pm detectives of Pampanga CIDG together with the SOCO team from Angeles City, led by Chief Inspector Ferdinand Aguilar conducted the consented search at the premises. The search yielded the dead body of Tania from the shallow pit at the back of the house, near the kitchen,” the complaint read.
Mrs. Dychioco then voluntarily presented her daughter, Angela, and submitted her prepared affidavit.
“Angela, assisted by her lawyer… stated in her affidavit that on or about 9:00 pm, June 20, 2015, she went to the vacant house of her mother at Lilian St., to meet Sheildon but was surprised to find the dead body of Tania bloodied money at the kitchen sink. Further, she said that out of an uncontrollable fear for her own life, she helped Sheildon pull the dead body of Tania into the shallow pit and while Sheildon was covering the pit with soil, she cleaned the the place to remove the blood and placed all the bloodied materials into plastic bags, all upon the orders of Sheildon.
“She also volunteered that with Sheildon, using her Grandia van, they threw away the personal effects and bag of Tania somewhere in Malolos, Bulacan,” the complaint read.
The CIDG urged the DOJ to place Angela and Mrs. Dychioco under the department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
“With the principal suspect, Sheildon, still at large, and while the elements of [the CIDG] are on the manhunt, [the CIDG] is of a strong belief that Angela, being the witness-participant in trying to conceal the crime and her mother, Regina, being the one who reported her doubts which led to the discovery of the cadaver, must be secured in order to preserve their statements and cooperation, protect their persons and so as not to frustrate the ends of justice,” the complaint read.
With the filing of the charge against Angela, it will now be up to the trial court, if probable cause is established by the DOJ against her, to rule whether she may be admitted as state witness.
Based on the medico-legal report, Tania “sustained a lone gunshot wound to the head thru and thru, point of entry at the back portion of the head and exiting on her left cheek and a contusion on the right shoulder.”
Text: Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
Photo: Posted on various social media platforms and featured in news clips
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
