The Cebu City Police Office will file murder charges on Oct. 27, 2026, against 10 suspects involved in the killing of Isaac Viernes.
Extrajudicial confessions, CCTV footage, and witness statements helped police reconstruct the crime, identify an at-large mastermind, and link additional accomplices to the burial.
CCPO deputy city director Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare stated the motive was retaliation after the victim allegedly assaulted a gay man in the barangay.
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will file murder charges on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, against 10 suspects allegedly involved in the killing of a man whose body was buried at the former Citilink Terminal in Barangay Pahina Central, Cebu City, on Oct. 8.
The victim, Isaac Viernes, 23, was found buried in a vacant lot at the former terminal on Oct. 19 after a resident informed his family of the location of his body.
Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, CCPO deputy city director for operations, said two more suspects had executed extrajudicial confessions, providing additional evidence in the investigation.
One admitted mixing the cement used to cover Viernes’ body and purchasing charcoal, while another said he had been instructed to retrieve the firearm used to shoot the victim.
The confessions also implicated two other individuals: a woman identified as the mother of one of the suspects, who allegedly helped conceal the crime during the burial, and another individual who allegedly participated in beating the victim.
Pelare said police would submit CCTV footage and the extrajudicial confessions to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
He clarified that the three suspects who had given confessions could not automatically be considered prosecution witnesses because they allegedly participated in the crime.
The confessions also helped investigators reconstruct the sequence of events before, during and after the killing while identifying a person who allegedly directed the crime.
“One of them appears to have been the person making the decisions on how to carry out the crime, while the others merely performed specific acts based on his instructions. This person has already been identified and will also be charged,” Pelare said.
The alleged mastermind remains at large, having eluded earlier police operations.
Pelare ruled out money as a motive, saying investigators believe the killing was an act of retaliation for an earlier incident in which Viernes allegedly assaulted a gay man at a convenience store in the same barangay. / AYB