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Thursday, January 30, 2003
Calatrava judge face murder raps
By Avelyn Z. Agudon
THE Commission on Human Rights filed murder charges against a judge and an ambulance driver in northern Negros Wednesday before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Aside from the murder case, the CHR also filed charges for grave misconduct against Judge Rodolfo Garcia of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Calatrava and Toboso before the Supreme Court.
Murder charges were filed against Garcia and ambulance driver Ricardo Ligaye of Calatrava following the death of Francisco Ortega in a traffic accident last Nov. 12.
Lilia Trasona, in her affidavit, claimed she witnessed the collision between the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Garcia and the motorcycle driven by Ortega along the highway of Brgy. Bantayanon, Calatrava.
Trasona, who was outside their house when the incident happened, said Ortega, who was on board his motorcycle together with his nephew, Joemarie Pahubasan, was travelling slowly when the Toyota Land Cruiser slammed into the motorcycle.
The witness said before the impact, Ortega was already driving along the shoulder of the road because the Toyota Land Cruiser was travelling very fast.
She added instead of helping the victims, Garcia drove forward and ran over the victims.
She further said after they ran over the victims twice, Garcia alighted from the vehicle together with his wife, flagged down a tricycle and left the area.
Ortega’s wife, Julieta, on the other hand, said while she brought her husband to the hospital, the latter managed to tell her that he was ran over by the Land Cruiser twice.
Julieta added that her husband grabbed his nephew and moved him to a safe place before the Land Cruiser again ran over them.
She also decided to file murder charges against Ligaye for the death of her husband.
Because of the injuries suffered by her husband, she decided to transfer him from San Carlos District Hospital to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital on board Ligaye’s ambulance.
Julieta said instead of going straight to the hospital in Bacolod City, Ligaye dropped at the house of his mistress and stayed their for 30 minutes, while the ambulance was being refueled.
When they arrived at the hospital, Ligaye removed the oxygen mask of Julieta’s husband when the victim was about to be wheeled into the emergency room without informing the nurse.
Julieta added her husband then died.
Ortega’s nephew, Pahubasan, who sustained two fractured legs, also executed an affidavit to strengthen the case against Garcia./AZA
(January 30, 2003 issue)
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