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Friday, June 11, 2004
Suspect in Choy shooting caught
By Mia E. AbellanaI Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Garry Cabotaje & Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
IN just 48 hours, police arrested a young man they said was behind the failed attempt on the life of broadcaster Cirse “Choy” Torralba.
John Lloyd Ortiz, 21, a sophomore taking up BS Marine Transportation, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau and the Homicide Section in his uncle’s house in Villa Magallanes, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City about 2 p.m. yesterday.
Ortiz declined to talk to reporters and hid his face with a white T-shirt. He also invoked his right to remain silent and did not issue a statement to police investigators.
But lawyer Haide Acuña, whom Ortiz’s relatives asked to represent him, said Ortiz was “an innocent man” and the fact that he went with the police and volunteered to undergo a paraffin test “speaks volumes of his innocence.”
Police investigators are verifying reports that Torralba, 53, and Ortiz had a misunderstanding over a woman they both knew.
After about 50 unsolved attacks on media practitioners in the country since 1986, police investigators are confident they can file a frustrated murder charge against Ortiz today.
Torralba had just finished his 11:30 a.m. commentary program “Interaction” aired over Angel Radio last Tuesday when a lone gunman fired a series of shots at him.
Out of danger
Torralba was wounded thrice, but was declared out of danger.
Ortiz was first invited for questioning, but was later placed under arrest after being identified.
Acuña, however, said that her client has witnesses who can prove he was in Pipeline Billiard Hall in SM City with friends at the time of the attack on Torralba.
Police detained Ortiz after Torralba’s driver, Randy Libradilla, said he was sure it was Ortiz who stood in front of Torralba’s car and fired 12 times.
Homicide Section Chief Mario Monilar told reporters last night that Torralba and Libradilla identified Ortiz through a picture last Wednesday afternoon.
They are verifying if there was a misunderstanding between Torral-ba and Ortiz because of a woman, whom Monilar described as “a friend nga nahimong dili na friend. Something like that.”
He said that during their discussions with Torralba, the broadcaster pointed out that a personal matter involving the woman would be the strongest angle.
In an earlier interview with radio dyLA yesterday morning, Torralba said that he has not had a relationship with a woman in 12 years that “gidudahan naman gani kong bayot (some people even think I’m gay).”
He also stressed that he never had a married girlfriend.
The interview
The interview was conducted about six hours before police arrested Ortiz.
Acuña, accompanied by fellow lawyer Kim Anthony Castro, said they will seek an independent inquiry on the case.
She said they could not avoid the possibility that the police would just “pick anybody” because Torralba’s assassination attempt was a celebrated case.
She explained that it was possible the police merely hurried their investigation to present somebody to the media or to their superiors.
They had also hoped not to have Ortiz detained since he was willing to cooperate, but police did not budge.
Acting Cebu City Police Office Director Melvin Gayotin denied they were under pressure to solve the case immediately.
Identified
“We merely made follow-ups on the leads given to us. He was positively identified,” Gayotin said.
He added that the arrest was legal because it fell under a hot pursuit. He also believes that Ortiz is the only one involved in the crime.
Ortiz was made to undergo a paraffin test yesterday to determine if he fired a gun recently.
Despite the arrest, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas national president Cerge Remonde said yesterday that “questions” surrounding the incident should be answered.
“We will never be satisfied until all questions are answered,” said Remonde, who revealed to reporters yesterday morning that he learned from the police that the case is “more or less closed.”
Whatever is the motive behind the attack, Remonde said the act of violence is “condemnable in a civilized society.”
Remonde, who is a close friend of Torralba, said he has been getting regular updates on the progress of the investigation.
He was saddened by the attack and immediately asked PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane and Police Regional Office 7 Director Rolando Garcia to probe the shooting and to immediately provide security to Torralba.
Torralba, for his part, yesterday called up National Bureau of Investigation 7 Director Reynaldo Esmeralda to deny that he issued a statement that he did not trust the bureau to join the probe on his assassination attempt.
In an interview, Esmeralda said that Torralba even requested him to continue the investigation, as the latter expressed his confidence in the professionalism of the bureau.
Upon learning of a newspaper column on Torralba’s alleged misgivings, Esmeralda said he then ordered his executive officer, Nelson Bar-tolome to back off from investigating the case.
“But I changed my mind when Torralba called me up. We are nobody’s lapdog. It’s better for him (the columnist) to present evidence instead of speculating,” he said. |
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