Sunday, September 07, 2008

Who had Prem Bernadez murdered?

Last Saturday September 6, 2008, an anonymous poster posted a message in my blog, www.jaydejaresco.blogspot.com.
The message was posted in my article about illegal possession of firearms.
I sensed the anonymous poster had a message for me
The message said: “Please view this video link and see for yourselves the culprit of the murder of Prem Bernadez: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qi7PtGICHQ”
Out of curiosity, I followed the Youtube address.
It turns out that the video freshly posted (only two days earlier September 4, 2008) in Youtube was the burial of Prem Bernadez.
I did not know Prem Bernadez personally.
I made some checks on my own in the internet, about Prem’s life and what happened to him.
I learned he was shot by assassins as he was going to his house last June 21, 2008.
He died a few days later.
Prem Jesswani Bernadez, 45 years old, I learned, was a magna cum laude accounting graduate from Silliman.
He was 18th placer in the CPA exam.
I gathered Prem was proprietor of an internet café, BizHub.com.

The mystery of the white towel

The anonymous poster in my blog obviously wanted me not just to share the grief by view his gloomy video, but for me to do something as a writer.
The way I see it, the anonymous Youtube video poster is insinuating possible characters who could shed light into the unsolved killing of Prem Bernadez.
Mr. Anonymous poster tells viewers about a Filipino superstition, a belief that if a white towel is placed in the coffin of the body of one who had been killed, the guilty persons will be forever tormented.
It is on the basis of this superstition, that the anonymous poster leads to a theory that there were people seen in the video trying to remove the white towel that was placed in the coffin bearing the remains of the late Prem.
The anonymous video poster contends this is abnormal behavior.
In my case, I haven’t heard of this superstition before.

No basis

As a lawyer, reliance on superstition to point at possible suspects or characters has no basis in law.
Its quite a long shot from downtown.
In other words, superstition does not equal evidence.
But having said that, this does not mean that the police should not pursue this possible “lead”.
The anonymous video poster suggests there were unusual behavior of persons seen in his video.
If crime investigators want to leave no stone unturned, then it won’t hurt if they give adequate treatment of the video.
It may lead to something, like the accumulation of evidence that is acceptable in law.

Technology helps solve, fight crime

From my standpoint, I realize the technological advances can do something in possibly helping solve crime.
The anonymous video poster had a message to convey.
I think he deliberately wanted to use me as a medium to convey his message.
That is why he posted the Youtube address to my blog.
That is why one is called a “mediaman”---he is a medium, a bridge.
Although I have reservations about the theory of the anonymous poster, I take his position at face value.
My role here is merely to provide an avenue with which he can further scatter his message, as unadulterated as it can possibly be.
So if you are interested, I suggest you go to the Youtube video yourself
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qi7PtGICHQ), and read the posts there.
For graphic’s sake, let me post the Youtube video below.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i watched the video several times, and i did not see any suspicious behavior. in fact, i just knew about the white towel superstition (thanks to you), yet what if it is her towel and she needs it that time?

Anonymous said...

A million thanks for giving space to this. Your gesture is greatly appreciated. I, as a personal friend of Prem, is looking forward that justice will be served the soonest.