By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The wife of Ricky Serenio, who formerly served as a bagman for the Berya drug group, is calling for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe her husband’s recent murder. The victim’s spouse, who has requested anonymity, refuted earlier claims by law enforcement that accused her husband of returning to the illegal drug trade.
She said, after relocating to Pulupandan two years ago, with an allowance provided by former Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña, they started a money lending business in the town, which also has operations in Bago City. She also addressed the notebooks recovered by the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) that they claimed had lists of “code names” by indicating those were records of their clientele and affirmed there were no “code names.”
Serenio’s wife explained they have around 40 clients, all of whom are small business owners, and that her husband conducted collections daily.
She also called for NBI intervention as she does not trust the police after her husband’s earlier revelations linking several police officers to the illegal drug trade. She also lashed out at police for having her husband still listed as a “high-value drug target.”
In addition, the couple’s business partner, who also requested anonymity, affirmed they own the car Serenio was driving at the time of his murder. They also denied the reports by police claiming bank books recovered from the vehicle contained millions of pesos.
Earlier, BCPO director, Police Colonel Henry Biñas, confirmed the ‘persons of interest’ in Serenio’s murder were discharged from the hospital and released from police custody. He noted, the two individuals, identified as Allan Bustamante and Jomar Dumip-ig, were downgraded from suspects to persons of interest as they are still collecting evidence which could link them from the murder.
The BCPO director said paraffin tests on both suspects and Serenio’s remains came out negative as investigators are still trying to find witnesses who could definitively point to Bustamante and Dumip-ig as the suspects.
Police are also trying to identify the person who boarded Serenio’s car as the individual reportedly fled following the shooting.
Since no charges were filed against the two, they were free to go./DGB, WDJ