Enzo Pastor’s kin nowhere to go on Nov. 1

All they have are pendants with just a bit of ash, no grandchildren in their custody and nowhere to go on Nov. 1. This is how the family of slain racing champion Enzo Pastor described their sentiments, days before the annual commemoration of the dead on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day this weekend.

In a chance interview with reporters at Camp Karingal in Quezon City on Wednesday, Pastor’s father, Tomas, said their family does not have the ashes of the racer who was cremated following his killing by a suspected hired gunman. The bulk of the ashes are with Pastor’s widow Dalia Guerrero, who has been in hiding after she was tagged as a suspect.

On June 12, Enzo was driving a truck when he and his helper Paolo Salazar were ambushed at the corner of Congressional and Visayas Avenues in Quezon City. The racer was shot in the head; his helper survived a shot in the abdomen.

The gunman was later identified as Pasay policeman Edgar Angel who pointed to businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman as the mastermind.

Quezon City police investigators said Dalia had an extramarital affair with De Guzman who hired Angel as a hit man because Dalia had complained of physical abuse in Enzo’s hands.

Angel, De Guzman and Dalia are facing criminal complaints in the Department of Justice (DOJ) for Pastor’s death. Angel remains under the custody of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit while De Guzman is out on bail.

Speaking to reporters after visiting newly appointed Quezon City police director Senior Supt. Joel Pagdilao with his family, Tomas expressed hopes the DOJ would resolve the complaints by the second week of November.

The Pastor family has not seen Dalia since the marking of the 40th day of Pastor’s death. Enzo and Dalia’s two children, aged 6 and 8, are under the care of the Guerrero family.

Tomas said they had filed a custody case in Makati City since the Guerreros had barred them from visiting their grandchildren, even in their school.

“All we have now are pendants,” he said, referring to several lockets containing some of Enzo’s ashes which were distributed to his loved ones after his cremation. -With report by Jaymee T. Gamil